


Summer Holidays

by rarepairqueen



Series: The Trans-Atlantic haunting [2]
Category: Ghost Adventures RPF
Genre: Disturbing Themes, F/M, I forgot how old the protagonist is, so possible underage relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 14:22:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 108,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/787038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarepairqueen/pseuds/rarepairqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The adventure continues with the GAC returning to the UK with the promise of new lockdowns at old haunts, a new feeling washes over the crew as they travel around and they discover that some things are better left alone to be forgotten over time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written in the months leading up to and during the summer of 2012, parts of it were written whilst I was in Canada and 16-year-old me decided to double-space EVERY chapter so if the formatting looks weird then that's why. On a plus note; the chapter titles improved!
> 
> Also I forgot how old Luna is so...I can't figure out how to correctly tag certain stuff (and I have no time to read 90,000+ words to figure it out) so if any of you work it out please let me know so I can accurately tag the series and not offend/upset anyone!
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy :)
> 
> *Disclaimer - whilst I don't say that I "regret" some author decisions I made, I do acknowledge that some details in parts of this series can unsettle or offend readers so for that I apologise and hope that you continue to enjoy this series*

 

Prologue

The second week of the summer holidays is always the worst – you’ve gotten over the thrill of not ever going back to school but you’ve run out of ideas to keep yourself entertained. Most of my friends had gone on holiday somewhere abroad so there was no way I could meet any of them and the few who had stayed in England tended to sleep in until three in the afternoon, that being said things weren’t exactly boring in my home anymore...

It seemed like every-time I came home from going out somewhere there would be something misplaced in the house. I couldn’t say it was my parents as they were in Canada and I was house-sitting whilst looking after our five-month old Alsatian puppy; Ringo, and he was still too small to move the things that were moving ‘by themselves’.  One particular day I came home and Ringo was sat right by the front door as usual to greet me as I returned from the local shop, I picked him up and walked up the stairs to the living room where I saw that the entire sofa had been turned 180o and was now facing the window.

“Well I think we can both agree that you had nothing to do with this Ringo.” I said to the bundle of fur in my arms.

He licked my chin in reply as I put him down along with the shopping bag I had been carrying. After a lot of heaving and pushing I managed to put the sofa back where it was previously, it didn’t help that Ringo kept walking around my feet as I was moving it. I flopped down on the sofa with a sigh, Ringo jumped up to sit next to me and just looked at me with his bright green eyes.

“Don’t worry Ringo...it means no harm – if anything it wants to protect us. After all; it did save my life at Preston Castle.” I told him tickling under his chin.

Ever since I returned from America in January things haven’t been quite as they were; I’m convinced that the spirit who saved me in Preston Castle decided to attach itself to me and resides in my home, which wasn’t too much of a problem as it wasn’t a ‘bad’ spirit – just a little annoying when it moved things around. I had taken to calling it Jay whenever other people were around so I didn’t seem too crazy – although Kate was used to Jay’s presence, she had been around my house enough times now to notice the weird goings on.

“I wonder when the crew will get their butts over into England eh?” I asked my silent puppy which was currently falling asleep beside me. “It seems like we haven’t seen each other for ages...” I had thought back many times to the two weeks I had spent with Zak, Nick, Aaron and Billy, more so when ‘Jay’ started making his presence known more often, and each time I subconsciously rubbed the back of my neck where one thin scar remained and the rest had disappeared over time.

My eyes shifted around the room and settled on a pile of mail that had been steadily growing for the past week on the table beside me, I noticed that the entire pile had been reorganized and a letter was sat on top with an Us Airmail stamp on it. I picked it up curious as to what was coming from America via Airmail addressed to me, as I opened it I had a sense of déjà vu come over me; the last time I opened a letter like this was on the plane taking off from LA airport.

“It’s probably just a note from mum and dad...although wouldn’t it be via Canadian mail?” I mumbled as I unfolded the letter and began reading – I had never been so happy to have been wrong in my life;

“ ** _Hey Luna!_**

**_Guess who’s coming to England next week? We are!  We decided to film part of the next season in the UK and you know we’d love to see you again!_ **

**_We’d also like to hear about this new puppy you’ve got; does it want to come with us on investigations? Maybe having a dog on the team would help pickup spiritual activity. Obviously we’d have to find hotels that allow dogs though..._ **

**_Someone will call you with details about when we’re getting here etc... so we’ll see you soon then!_ **

**_Zak. Nick, & Aaron.”_ **

I stared at the letter trying to process what was happening; _They’re coming...to England...this month...oh dear Lord...._

“How about it Ringo? Do you wanna come and find some ghosts with me and the gang?” I ask the snoozing puppy next to me; which was a pretty pointless exercise.  The idea of having my puppy with me in some haunted locations was a little concerning, if spirits could harm a human then could they harm a dog? I decided to call Kate and see what she thought;

“Hey Keito…Zak and co are coming over to England to investigate and they were wondering if I should take Ringo…but I don’t want him getting injured so what do you think I should do?” I asked her

“Well…I’m not a paranormal ‘expert’ like yourself so I wouldn’t know, how long will you be town hopping?” she replied

“Uh…a few weeks I’m guessing.”

“Take him with you. At only five months old he’ll be confused at what is going on if you leave him with someone else.” She said before hanging up abruptly.

“Oh…thanks…” I muttered. “Well Ringo, I ought to get something sorted out luggage-wise for this trip of ours.” I told my puppy who had woken up and was nuzzling my hand which was still holding the letter from the crew.

 _And so it begins again…_ I thought to myself, getting off the sofa.

 


	2. The Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to say that I never had chapter titles for this originally so...I'm having to come up with them on the spot as I reupload them.

**The Reunion**

Here I am again, in the company of the three guys who have become like family to me in the short time we’ve known each other.

We decided to meet up at the local park as I was taking Ringo to meet them for the first time. As I exited my house with Ringo pulling at his leash the sun temporarily blinded me, I had forgotten about the outside elements during the week I had been packing for both Ringo and myself. I heaved the sports bag over my shoulder and locked the door before giving into Ringo’s constant tugging and started the short walk to the dog-park.

After numerous stops to let Ringo sniff at various lamp-posts and trees, we made it to the agreed rendezvous with time to spare. Ringo flopped down under the bench I sat on next to my bag whilst we waited for the guys to show up. I prayed that they wouldn’t get lost on the English roads, there are a lot of roundabouts in the local area and I wasn’t sure if they knew how to navigate them without breaking several laws.

The bench I was sat on had a view down the main pathway through the park, thus I would see them almost as soon as they entered the area. Thankfully all my worrying turned out to be pointless as no more than five minutes later three familiar guys walked into view from down the pathway. Ringo bolted upright and bounded towards them as far as his lead would allow him before he was halted by the stationary bench he was attached to. Aaron bent down and ruffled his fur whilst Zak and Nick continued walking towards me. Zak was wearing his signature black sunglasses making him look more mysterious than normal whilst Nick just had a look of relaxation spread across his face.

Ringo came bounding back to me and practically ran into Zak along the way causing him to lose his ‘mysterious’ air to him and start laughing. “Ringo, sit.” I commanded, the puppy obeyed and sat staring at Zak with his green eyes.

“…I have to admit it…he’s cute.” Zak mumbled stroking him.

“I know right?” I replied. “So how have you three been then?”

“Good, the episodes you were in went on air in April as I’m sure you know. We’ve been getting good comments about you.” Zak answered.

“Cool.” I said

“This is partly why we came here, to get you involved in a few more investigations…but also of course to just meet up again.” Nick cut in.

“Ahh, well I have nothing better to be doing this summer anyway.” I commented picking Ringo up and putting him on my lap.

“Good, so I’m guessing Ringo’s coming with us then?” Aaron asked tickling the puppy’s ear.

“Yeah, my parents are away, and I can’t leave him with anyone but my family – I could’ve asked Kate but I decided that he might as well come with – he’s used to spiritual activity anyway…” I explain

“Wait – what?” Zak queried

“Oh…you don’t know…” I mumbled looking at Nick. He was the only one I had talked about ‘Jay’ with so it was natural that Zak was more than a little confused. “Well…ever since the Preston Castle incident weird things have been happening at home, like little things; furniture would be moved slightly…or more than slightly in some cases, a few weird noises here and there. But most of all a feeling that someone is kind of protecting me at all times…like a guardian angel – even though that sounds quite cheesy – it’s what I feel sometimes.” I rambled stroking Ringo. “But they’re not just at home, sometimes when I was in school I would hear voices that no-one else would, like warnings if someone was about to do something really stupid like walk out in front of a car or fall down the stairs. Silly little things like that.”

Zak and Aaron stood in silence processing all the information. “Don’t forget about how you found Ringo…” Nick reminded me.

“Yeah, I actually found Ringo one day when I was walking home after staying late in school. Something told me that I should stay and catch up on some revision and by the time I finished it was like half six at night. So I was walking home – in the pouring rain – when I came across this little guy tied to a lamp-post in an alleyway. I took him home and for the few days we kept him waiting for someone to get in contact with us; a voice kept telling me that I needed to keep him – no explanation just that I needed to keep him. Eventually my dad let us keep him after no-one bothered to get in contact.”

More silence from Aaron but this time Zak seemed to understand what I was telling him and nodded slightly. “So has this ‘activity’ got a name?” he asked

“Well I’ve decided to call it Jay, it just seems to fit. After all that’s the feeling I got back in Preston Castle, and I think it’s the same spirit that saved my life back then.” I replied

“Fair enough, as long as no harm comes to you then so be it.” Zak concluded. “So do you know where we’re investigating?”

“I might if you tell me.” I smugly reply.

“Have you heard of Berry Pomeroy Castle?” Aaron cut in.

“Briefly, it’s south of here, I haven’t been there personally.”

“Well it seems like the best place to start Ringo’s career as a ghost hunting dog.” Nick remarked.

“Sounds good to me, so where’s the van?” I asked

“Wow, just wow.” Zak said

“What?” I said puzzled.

“Yeah, what Zak?” Nick and Aaron also said looking puzzled.

“Nevermind. It’s in the car park…thing…over there somewhere….” He replied vaguely waving his arm towards the road. “Come on then! This castle won’t investigate itself!”

Aaron picked up my bag and followed Zak who was already halfway to the car park. Nick and I walked at a slower pace so Ringo’s little legs could keep up without him straining himself.

“So you didn’t tell him then…” I said.

“No, I didn’t. Was I meant to?” he replied

“You could’ve, anyway – do we know why he abandoned us on that road yet?” I asked

“No, why don’t you just let it go? He clearly wasn’t in his right mind.” Nick tried to persuade me.

“I can’t. That doppelganger haunts my nightmares, even with ‘Jay’ seemingly protecting me.” I replied. “I need to know what happened and what caused him to leave us – we don’t know what we encountered in that house. I need to find out for my own sanity and wellbeing.”

“Well why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve pursued it further – I asked him but he just said he was tired and needed to quit driving.”

“What kind of excuse is that?”

“I don’t know, I think I’m bugging him slightly by asking him about it, Zak has his reasons and if he doesn’t want to say then I think we should respect that.”

“Fine, I guess I’ll let it go for now. However I don’t think the nightmares will disappear quite as easily.”

By this time we had reached the van and on the bonnet of said van Zak had spread out a map and was inspecting it; looking very puzzled whilst doing so. _Does he know he’s looking at a map of London?_ I thought. I decided to spare him the humiliation and just tell him how long it’ll take for us to get to the castle.

“It’ll take us about half an hour to get there if that’s what you’re trying to figure out....” I said

Zak looked up at me as if I was speaking a different language (normality resumes....) before glancing back at the map and folding it back up.

“It might also help if you purchase a map of this area...rather than of central London...” I suggested whilst trying not to laugh.

At this remark we all burst out laughing, Ringo looked up at me slightly confused at all the sudden noise before going back to sniffing the tires of the van. After a few more comments about Zak’s bad map-reading skills were made we eventually managed to get into the van and get somewhat on the way to Berry Pomeroy Castle; with Aaron driving, Zak attempting to give directions from some notes he had written down and Nick sat in the back with me and a very excited Ringo. The puppy wouldn’t sit still at all; I think he could probably sense where we were going...it wouldn’t surprise me if that was true.

“Sheesh what has got into you?” I exclaimed after Ringo had tried to run from one side of the van to the other – tripping over Nick’s legs in the process.

“He’s certainly an excitable puppy isn’t he?” Nick commented.

“He’s normally a lot calmer, even when ‘Jay’ does some crazy things at home.” I explained

“Maybe he can tell what type of place we’re going to...” Aaron called from the front.

“Aaron I told you to turn left back there!” Zak yelled.

“Sorry dude...is there another exit anywhere near here?”

“I don’t know!” Zak replied hysterically.

It seemed like this was going to be a long journey at this rate. I vaguely knew the way to the castle but whether I could actively tell them how to get there was another matter…

“Um…there is another way around to it…” I muttered

“Care to share then?” Nick asked

“If they turn left at the next opportunity then we should be running parallel to the other road…” I mumbled. Aaron obviously heard me and turned left down a country road which was in dire need of resurfacing.

The van bumped up and down as the road became more and more unruly, Ringo was surprisingly calm and appeared to be sleeping between Nick and I. “I wish I could be as clam as he is…” Nick mumbled as the van jolted over another bump in the road.

“When my dad’s driving like a madman everywhere you slowly get used to this kind of ride. It also reminds me a lot of Zak’s little bit of road rage on the way to Preston Castle…” I replied clinging to the edge of the seat. _This time it actually is the seat rather than a certain person’s leg…_ my face felt like it was burning as I remembered that crazy ride.

“Remembering that little incident?” Nick whispered, bending over the snoozing puppy between us.

_Oh crap he remembers…_ “I..uh..yeah. I guess I was.” I replied trying to laugh it off.

He lent back in his seat seemingly thinking about it whilst Zak and Aaron were arguing about which way to turn as we had reached some crossroads.

“Little help?” Zak commented turning around in his seat to look at me.

“Uh….I think we need to turn left here…” I replied.

“Maybe we should stop and ask for directions…” Aaron mumbled as we start down another road in extremely bad shape.

“We’re in the middle of some fields…I don’t think that’s an option.” Nick pointed out.

“Oh! I just remembered how to get there; continue down this road and then we should end up in a village…” I explained. “Once in the village there should be sign posts to the castle.”

“Yay, now we might actually get there before night-fall.” Zak replied

**~*~**

After another two hours of driving we eventually drove into the village of Berry Pomeroy, Ringo was restless, Zak was fuming that once again we had got lost, Aaron was tired of hearing Zak nagging him every two seconds meanwhile Nick and I had spent the last two hours reminiscing about past investigations.

“Did I ever tell you about the time Zak got attacked by a cat whilst on location?” Nick asked as we all got out of the van which was parked in the car park of a pub.

“I think you did…anyway what are we doing now?” I replied turning to the still fuming Zak.

“Uh…we could either check-in to our hotel or go straight to the castle for a walkthrough…we’re investigating tomorrow night so we don’t need to set anything up tonight.” Zak replied

“I think…we should check-in to the hotel and just like dump our overnight stuff and then go, we still have about four hours of daylight left..” Aaron suggested.

“One question; the hotel allows dogs doesn’t it?” I asked with the ever-excited Ringo tugging on his lead.

“Uh, good question.” Zak commented. “Might as well ask them…”

We walked out of the pub car park and down the main high-street of the village towards a big stone building which took up most of the skyline. After looking at all the mandatory ‘no smoking’ stickers on the window we saw no indication that dogs weren’t allowed in the hotel.

“I’ll ask at the desk, you lot stay out here, I’m assuming Ringo is house trained?” Zak ordered.

“Yeah, that was the one condition that I was able to keep him; if I house-trained him.” I replied

Zak disappeared inside the building whilst we all stood outside in the summer breeze, the village was quite picturesque and was surrounded by woodland which had a chorus of birds chirping away.

“Now I remember why I like England so much…” Aaron commented whilst looking up into the blue sky. “It has areas which aren’t all urban, this is just like down-to-Earth and...nice for loss of a better word…”

“I’m sure America has places like this right?” I said

“Yeah but it’s different here...I can’t explain it.”

I knew what Aaron was saying, the village seemed like something out if a classic book or film, and was quite a distance from a big city. The trees rustled in the light summer breeze that swept gently through the country lanes. This was the part of travelling I enjoyed nearly as much as the endless car journeys; pulling up in a quaint village and just watch the world roll by.

The three of us leaned against the van and looked up into the cloudless sky overhead, Ringo led down on the pavement panting loudly. Time seemed to stop whilst we were there, we hardly noticed Zak walking out of the hotel to us until he was right next to us.

“Uh…guys?” He asked once we had been standing there without saying anything to him.

“Oh sorry dude, we got caught up in our thoughts.” Aaron apologized

“So is Ringo allowed in?” I asked nudging Nick in the side as he was still staring into the sky.

 “Yeah, but he has to be on ‘his best behaviour’” Zak replied imitating the receptionist with a shrill voice.

“Yay, so shall we drop the bags in our rooms and go?” I said.

“Uh…about that…there is only one room, it has four separate beds like the last time we stayed somewhere…” Zak mentioned

“Oh…okay…”

“Still are we going to drop the bags or what?” Nick asked

“Yeah, I want to get to this castle already!” Aaron cried excitedly.

**~*~**

Half an hour later we were walking within the grounds of Berry Pomeroy Castle, Ringo had gone almost crazy as we walked over the draw-bridge and started our walk around the grounds, which while it as entertaining at first it slowly became harder and harder to control him, I eventually gave his leash to Nick in hopes that he would be able to control the crazy puppy.

“Well, there’s no doubt that he doesn’t have a lot of energy...” Nick muttered as Ringo veered off towards another doorway of the first floor corridor.

“He’s never been like this before, I don’t know what’s got into him.” I explained as I looked at my hands that were red from the friction of the leash.

“Maybe he’s just excited to be somewhere other than the local park…” Aaron suggested.

“Possibly. Anyway, how much of the castle is left to explore?” I asked Zak who was currently holding a map.

“Don’t ask him, he can’t read a map, remember?” Aaron remarked, playfully hitting Zak on the arm.

“Haha, very funny guys. It looks like we can go up another level – to the top of the castle.” Zak replied, walking towards a stone staircase. 

We climbed to the top floor of the castle and peered through a window at the countryside surrounding the castle grounds. Ringo decided to drag Nick off down the stone corridor leaving Zak, Aaron and I in the first room.

“The fact this castle was never finished rings alarm bells for me…” Aaron muttered

“Apparently the owners of the grounds never finished it for reasons unknown to historians, they then moved into a stately home built at the same time as this mansion in Wiltshire.” I recounted.

“So no records of bloody murders then?” Aaron asked sounding relieved.

“Uh….well there were a few suspicious deaths but I’ll leave the guide to tell us tomorrow.” I replied

“Oh great, beheadings, axe murders, satanic worshippers, crazy doctors…what is it this time?” he listed off as we all walked out of the room to find Nick and Ringo.

“Just imprisonment, and a bit of murder. That’s all.” I simply said looking up and down the corridor.

“Anyway, shouldn’t we find Nick? He’s probably been taken to land’s end by that puppy.” Zak said leading the way down the corridor towards the north tower.

“I don’t think Ringo’s _that_ bad Zak.” I spoke out as we came to a spiral staircase leading down towards the second floor. We could hear several yelps which sounded similar to Ringo coming from down below echoing throughout the castle.

“What the?” Aaron started to say but was cut off by Zak lunging down the stairs. I don’t know why he seemed so anxious to get down there, it was pretty normal for Ringo to be yelping at nothing.

We got down to where the yelping was coming from and found Ringo growling at thin air and no Nick to be found. I picked up the puppy’s leash and tugged on it, he wouldn’t move from his spot.

“Where the hell is Nick?” Zak asked, pacing up and down the corridor and looking in each of the unfinished rooms.

“You called?” came a voice from behind us. We all turned sharply (excluding Ringo who was still growling at the air) and saw Nick, grinning from ear to ear as if he had found some hidden treasure.

“Where have you been? And why was Ringo here on his own?” Zak questioned

“Just exploring, Ringo tugged out of my grasp and then just stood there growling at nothing so I started looking in the rooms nearby and found a passageway to the other mansion building.” Nick explained

“What?” Aaron asked

“Well I think we should go back to the hotel…I’m shattered.” I said, trying to prevent any random mounts of exploration from starting. “Plus this place takes a long time to navigate out of.” I muttered pulling Ringo away from the apparently threatening space in the corridor.

“I agree, all this commotion is giving me a headache…” Zak commented.

We managed to get back to the hotel without Ringo going crazy, but something about that corridor we found him in slightly perplexed me, more investigation would have to be put into it tomorrow...


	3. So it begins...again

 

**So it begins...again**

"Rise and shine everyone! Lots to do and little time to do it in!” A loud voice shattered my blissful state of sleep. I opened one eye lazily and glared at the culprit; Zachary Bagans who was unfortunately unfazed by the look I gave him.

“…” I glared at him. “…I’m pretty sure there are other, less extreme, ways to wake me up…” I mumbled

“Well I thought I’d do the honours as we’re all going to be staying with each other for the next few weeks..” he proclaimed standing up and landing heavily on Aaron’s bed – he was still asleep somehow…

“Yay….this kind of wake-up call every morning for the next few weeks.” I sarcastically replied sitting up and looking around for Ringo, he was sat at the base of Aaron’s bed staring at him.

“Lighten up Luna, it won’t always be Zak..” Nick commented coming out of the bathroom.

Zak was shaking the still sleeping Aaron who let out a snore in protest. Ringo decided to join in and jumped onto the bed and started licking Aaron’s face.

“Ugh! What the?” The big man cried as Ringo still licked his face.

“Good old Ringo…” I sighed picking the puppy up off of the now awake Aaron. “Come on…I suppose we better find you some food…”  I rummaged through the sports bag I brought with me for Ringo’s food dish and a can of dog food.

“You brought dog food with you?” Nick asked looking over my shoulder at the tins of food in my bag.

“I didn’t know if I’d be able to buy any once I’d got here, so I packed enough for a few days at least.” I replied emptying the contents of a can into a red dish, Ringo almost instantly started wolfing it down.

“Well now that he’s taken care of, how about we get some food?” I asked Zak who was now hitting Aaron with a pillow as he had gone back to sleep.

“Eh? Sorry, I’m trying to keep Aaron awake for more than two seconds. Food sounds good, go down to the breakfast bar and fetch some bacon sandwiches.” Zak replied hitting Aaron again.

“Alright, are you coming Nick?” I asked

“Yeah okay, don’t kill Aaron while we’re gone Zak.” Nick replied before heading to the door.

We returned later to a slightly angered Aaron and an unfazed Zak, who for some reason practically jumped on me as I walked through the door carrying a tray of bacon sandwiches. After a bit of yelling, door slamming, Nick trying to keep the peace and Ringo yelping we had all gotten a sandwich and sat eating in silence. Zak seemed to still be in a strange mood and it was starting to creep me out.

“So…” Aaron started with a mouthful of food “When are we leaving?”

“As soon as we can.” Zak replied whilst trying to keep Ringo from taking his bacon sandwich from out of his hands.

**~ A while later – Gates of Berry Pomeroy Castle. ~**

_“_ _My name is Zak Bagans. I've never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one. So I set out on a quest to capture what I once saw onto video. With no big camera crews following us around, I am joined only by my fellow investigator Nick Groff and our equipment tech Aaron Goodwin. The three of us will travel to some of the most highly paranormal locations, where we will spend an entire night getting locked down from dusk until dawn... Raw...Extreme... These are our Ghost Adventures.”_

“So here we are at the gates of Berry Pomeroy Castle in Southern England, where there are reports of distressed spirits wandering the castle, even one who tries to kill anyone she sees.” Zak said into the camera whilst walking backwards through the gates of the main castle. “Visitors have experienced feelings of evil foreboding, apparitions of a woman dressed in a blue cloak, who can only be; the blue lady.”

The weather was nice (for a change in England) and Zak insisted that we all gather at the main gates to introduce the start of the new season of Ghost Adventures, and of course my return for something like half the season.

“So welcome back to another season of Ghost Adventures; I’m Zak, we got Nick and Aaron with us as usual, but we have one other person to introduce this season…” Zak reported to Aaron’s camera.

“Luna’s back! Yay!” Aaron suddenly shouted pointing the camera at me. “And look, she’s got a puppy!”

“Yes Aaron’s right, Luna’s back to guide us around England and she’s brought her puppy with her to help us out.” Nick continued

“So as I was saying…” Zak interrupted bringing both cameras back to his direction. “We’re in Devon at this castle, it’s supposedly haunted, we’re here to find out if it is.”

As we toured around the castle and mansion grounds we recited the history and the mystery surrounding the reported hauntings that our research had told us. “Here in Berry Pomeroy Castle there has been a bit of confusion about the hauntings; the two stories had been blurred together on several occasions.” Zak explained as we were walking through the stony halls. “The castle was completed in the 15th century by the Pomeroy family, by 1547 Edward Seymour, first duke of Somerset gained ownership of the grounds however it was abandoned in the late 17th century and was left to rot away…” he trailed off, continuing to roam the tunnels of the castle.

“During the time that the Pomeroy family owned the grounds, there was a tragic love story taking place between the two daughters and a handsome knight. It ended with the apparent imprisonment of Lady Margret by her sister Lady Eleanor. This led to the first haunting; the White lady.” We had by this point gotten down to the dungeon where the reports said the haunting took place, it was a dark and damp space which was quite small and very claustrophobic when we were all squeezed in there.

“A…little tight in here…” Nick grunted.

“That’s what he said..” Aaron replied before bursting into laughter.

“Dudes, please can we get this done, _then_ you can be total idiots.” Zak said trying to calm them down.

“Yeah okay, so what happens here then Zak?” Nick replied.

“This was where Lady Margaret was imprisoned by her sister because she was jealous of her looks. Young women feel sorrow and hopelessness here quite often and guys get a general feeling of dread.” Zak went on to explain. “Sounds of sobbing can be heard from this area, and high electromagnetic spikes have been reported in this area.”

“Sounds like fun, where to now?” I remarked, wanting to get out of this cramped space as soon as possible.

“The north tower, where the blue lady is reportedly seen.” Zak replied.

A long walk later, with Ringo pulling at his lead every two seconds we reached the spiral staircase leading to the top of the tower. I swear the place was infested with spiders, everywhere we looked there were spider webs with flies entangled in them. Aaron had walked into three already and screamed like a girl everytime.

As the cameras rolled still recording Zak’s ascent up to the top of the tower I thought I heard a whisper behind me, when I looked around I saw nothing, Ringo hadn’t reacted either so I assumed it was just the adrenaline rush of being in a supposedly haunted location again. The stairs were narrow and uneven so it was hard to climb up with an excited puppy trying to squeeze past Nick on the staircase – who was carrying the recording camera at the time and nearly dropped it.

“Is there no end to his energy?” Nick muttered as Ringo tried to shove past again.

“I don’t believe so, but I sometimes think he’s aware of activity so maybe he can sense something.” I replied dragging him back slightly.

We reached the top of the tower, the summer breeze was stronger up here and the sun beat down on us as we listened to Zak’s history lesson;

“The Blue Lady is said to manifest in this area of the mansion; the north tower. It is said that she lures men to the tower and then they fall; to their death. It is also said that those who see her will experience a close family member or friend dying.” Zak told the camera. “Some say that the lady killed her own child while it was sleeping, others say that the baby’s father murdered it. But all agree that the blue lady mourns the death of the child.”

Ringo started whining loudly and hid behind me, something wasn’t right with him. The atmosphere hadn’t changed, no-one had heard anything, and no-one had seen anything, so I ignored him at first.

Zak continued to ramble about supposed sightings, and Aaron continued to record him, Nick and I were trying to figure out why Ringo had suddenly become like a frightened rabbit. We disembarked from the top of the tower and walked through the castle corridors.

We continued to walk around the castle and found the passageway Nick had discovered yesterday leading to the mansion, just before we were about to start heading down it Ringo tugged away from my grasp and bounded along into the darkness ignoring my calls to him. We immediately pursued him crashing into one another in the pitch black tunnel which had cobwebs everywhere.

“Ugh! Spiders! Spiders!” Aaron repeated trying to make sure the camera, which was still recording, didn’t get damaged in the mad dash down the passageway. “I HATE spiders!”

“We _know_ Aaron, you’ve only proclaimed it like a million times.” I replied, my voice echoing down the tunnel.

I heard two voices up ahead which were Zak’s and Nick’s, they had obviously found something and had stopped to consider their options as seconds later Aaron and I crashed into them.

“Bloody hell, why did you stop?” I snapped.

“We couldn’t tell which way Ringo had gone.” Zak grunted from underneath me. Turns out I had landed on his back which was surprising to say the least.

“There’s a separate passageway branching off.” Nick explained finding my wrist in the darkness and pulling me off of our leader. “We can’t tell which way he went.”

“I thought you said you explored this part.” Aaron said.

“Yes, both passageways lead to the mansion, but they end up in different places. I think.”

“You _think_?” I repeated.

“I only had time to explore one of them.” Nick explained

“Right well, Nick and Aaron you go down the tunnel Nick’s already explored, Luna you come with me down the other. When you reach the other end with or without Ringo get back to the drawbridge, got that?” Zak ordered.

“Yup. Shouldn’t we have a flashlight or something?” Aaron asked

“It’ll take too long to get back, for all we know Ringo is running around in the mansion after something and will be gone by the time we get there.” Zak explained. “Now go.”

Nick and Aaron’s footsteps faded down one of the tunnels, Zak gently took my wrist and pulled me towards the other tunnel entrance. We cautiously made our way down the tunnel in silence and in pitch darkness, the air was heavy and cobwebs kept getting in my hair, Zak kept stumbling and cursing loudly under his breath. As we got deeper and deeper, and the air became heavier than I thought was possible we literally fell out into a hallway. It had a small window shining daylight into the room which illuminated how dusty both Zak and I were from our trek into the room. The room itself seemed to be disused and had no real attraction to it; the wallpaper was peeling, the furniture was covered in dust and most of it was broken, the corners of the room had cobwebs weaving throughout the piles of furniture.

“Wow…this is pretty cluttered…” I muttered, attempting to dust myself off.

“Sure is, now how do we get out of here?” Zak replied looking around the room for a way out. There were two doors, one was hanging precariously on one hinge and led into what looked to be a dark hallway, the other was firmly closed and looked to have been that way for the past decade.

“Well, we could split up and go into one room each?” I suggested.

“Okay, I’ll take the unopened door. You take the other, make sure you leave every door open and if you need me yell. Be careful Luna.” Zak instructed.

“Got it.” I replied, and I edged my way around the hanging door making sure not to move it. The hallway beyond it was dimly lit by a small window halfway along, towards the end of said hallway was a door that was left open slightly.

I slowly made my way towards the door, the musty air made it hard to breath and I wondered if Ringo had even come this way at all. The room at the end of the hall was slightly more up to date furniture wise; there was a telephone in the corner on a table, yet it wasn’t plugged in.

“Perfect…” I said out loud. I picked up the receiver absentmindedly and I heard something that made my blood freeze;

_“….h-h…help…”_

I slammed the phone down, how could a phone which wasn’t plugged in have a voice coming through? More to the point; who was trying to communicate?  I heard a shuffling from behind me, I slowly turned around dreading what I was going to find…

The familiar puppy that I loved was sat under a table shaking, I picked him up, covered in dust and whimpering slightly. He was not in any fit state to be here…

“Shh…shh Ringo…” I whispered hugging him.  “Let’s find Zak and get out of here…”

I made my way back to the original room we had landed in, Zak was nowhere to be found yet the door he went through was still open. I debated whether to even start trying to find him or whether to sit and wait. After considering Ringo’s wellbeing I decided to just sit in the old dusty room and wait. I positioned myself against the wall opposite the door he had gone down, Ringo sat on my lap still shaking slightly and kept jumping up every few seconds.

“What’s wrong Ringo? Is there something here?” I asked him, stroking his fur.

He only whimpered in reply. The minutes ticked by and silence fell in the room, I was beginning to doubt whether Zak was coming back.

**~*~**

“Oi wake up.” A voice came from nearby, I was aware that I had closed my eyes but not that I had fallen asleep…

“Luna?” another voice came. I opened my eyes and saw Nick and Aaron staring at me.

“Eh? Where’s Zak?” I grumbled.

“You tell us, it’s like four in the afternoon.” Nick said.

“Oh…he went through that door over there….” I said gesturing towards the door.

Nick and Aaron looked at each other before Aaron departed through the door leaving me with Nick and Ringo still quivering beside us.

“How long have you been looking for us?” I asked.

“About two hours.” Nick replied “We walked around the mansion first to see if you were in there, and when we couldn’t find you we decided to go right back to the tunnel and come down the tunnel you did.”

“And so you ended up here…” I concluded.

“Yup, but you found Ringo so it’s all good.”

“Indeed. But now we’ve lost Zak.” I sighed.

“No we haven’t” Aaron’s voice came from the doorway. “I found him provoking spirits.”

Zak followed him through into the room, his face was pale and he looked like he had seen a ghost. When he spoke his voice was low and solemn; “This place has some dark, dark secrets…” he muttered.


	4. The first of many

**The first of many**

“So that’s why we’re not really splitting up this evening…” Nick said to his handheld camera. We had begun investigating a few hours after Aaron found Zak provoking spirits in the hidden part of the mansion. Zak was still a little dazed and refused to tell us what he had experienced so Nick decided to take charge of the investigation and had said that we shouldn’t go off on our own, at least not until we had a better idea of the layout during the night.

Aaron had been assigned to look after the leader and to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid, which meant Ringo and I were investigating with Nick. He had just finished explaining the events that had taken place earlier and we were roaming the hallways of the castle whilst Aaron and Zak were in the mansion, this way there was no chance of us contaminating each other’s EVP sessions. I could see nothing

The castle was pitch black and I could see nothing except the LCD screen of Nick’s camera. I kept a firm grasp of Ringo’s leash, the last thing we needed was Ringo bounding off through the twists and turns of the castle in the dark. It was difficult to determine where we were as I had lost all sense of direction in the stone fortress.

“If there is anyone with us tonight, I want you to talk to us or touch us. We don’t mean you any harm or disrespect.” Nick called out into the darkness.

“Don’t be afraid of my puppy, he won’t harm you as long as he doesn’t feel threatened…” I carried on.

We stopped and stood in silence in a hallway waiting for a response. It was really quiet, there was no sounds coming from anywhere other than our breathing. After a few moments of no activity we continued along towards the north tower where the blue lady is said to manifest herself.

“You know, it’s really quiet here…I expected it to be a little more active.” Nick said as we reached the staircase leading to the top of the tower.

“You never know…” I mumbled craning my neck upwards to look up the spiral of steps above us.

There was someone above us…I could hear shuffling and a moan from the top of the tower. I reached out to try and get Nick’s attention without startling it.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered as he bent his head close to mine so he could hear.

“Yeah…maybe she’s trying to lure us up there to our deaths…” he whispered back, pointing the camera upwards. “Just so you know guys, we’re hearing shuffling and moaning from up there…I’m going up to find out what’s going on…” Nick reported to the camera.

“I’m guessing I’m coming with then as we’re not splitting up this evening.” I muttered, pulling Ringo close to me.

“Well…I think it would be better if you did so.” He replied, starting to climb the steps. I picked Ringo up and followed suit. The winding staircase seemed to go on forever before we got assaulted by the summer air. The moon, although not full, was giving off enough light so I could see where Nick was in relation to the staircase.

“Is the blue lady up here?” Nick asked. “If you are we’d like to speak to you, perhaps you could tell us your name?”

“Nick…maybe she’d respond better to a female…” I muttered, stroking Ringo’s fur in my arms.

“…okay, hold the digital recorder in front of you and see if you can get a response.” He replied after a while. He took Ringo’s lead from me after I put him on the floor and gave me the digital recorder. I then proceeded to cross over to the opposite side of the turret and try to communicate with the spirit known as the blue lady.

“I’m sorry for the death of your child…” I stated making sure not to move too much. “I can’t imagine how sad you must feel…”

The night air was still, only moving ever so slightly when a summer breeze brushed through the gaps in the turret wall. I could hear Ringo shuffling behind me, or at least I assumed it was Ringo. I continued asking questions to anyone who was with us on the turret;

“So could you tell me your name? I’m sure everyone would rather call you by your name instead of the blue lady.”

More silence, I hoped that just because I didn’t hear any response it didn’t mean there was none. Nick quietly led Ringo around to meet me so we could decide what to do now, we didn’t get a chance to say anything as Ringo started growling at the air again.

“Ringo, shh.” I whispered.

“Hold on, is the digital recorder still rolling?” Nick asked in a hushed tone.

“Yeah, why?”

“Give me a sec.” he said “Don’t be afraid of our puppy, he’s only picking up your presence. Please speak into this red light my friend is holding, we will be able to hear you later on.” He proclaimed to the summer air around us.

Ringo wouldn’t quieten down, his fur started standing on end and he started clawing at the ground. I couldn’t understand why he was doing this, he never did such things when ‘Jay’ was around so why now?

We decided to leave the north tower at this point and move onto the dungeons where the white lady is said to reside. Ringo seemed to have calmed down as we descended through the confusing fortress layout towards the dark underbelly of the castle. It took us long time to figure out which way we had to go, but after a while we managed to conclude that  the castle’s hallways double back on themselves as they descend lower and lower, which confused the heck out of us at first.

“We should’ve asked for a map…” I said after we had gotten lost for a third time.

“Yeah, oh well we know where we’re going now.” Nick replied.

Ringo remained quiet as we travelled further into the castle. Only when we got to the passageway leading down to the dungeons did he show any kinds of interest, we reached the huge door of the dungeons and he started pulling on his leash. So much so that I had to take the camera from Nick so he could attempt to control the puppy.

The dungeons were cramped and seemed more claustrophobic than before. We sat on the ground of one of the cells amongst old shackles, I swear one day we’ll find a body one day in one of these weird places. I looked into the LCD screen of the camera and saw the opposite wall where Nick was sat, we had closed the door of the cell so we were sealed in, this also meant that Ringo could roam as he pleased in the cell.

“Is the white lady in here with us? I heard your name was Lady Margaret…come you come and talk to us?”  Nick asked placing the recorder in the middle of the cell.

“We don’t mean any disrespect, we just want to give you the chance to talk to someone.” I said panning the camera slowly around the cell to see what Ringo was doing. He was sniffing the ground and pacing pack and forth, he did not appear tense locked in this small space.

“We want to hear what you have to say Lady Margaret...” Nick continued.

I felt it get slightly colder in the cell, Ringo also seemed to sense something was going on; he stopped sniffing the ground and stood staring at the wall motionless, I followed his gaze and saw nothing. This place was getting weird, Nick also seemed to pick up on something abnormal about this cell, he got up and walked around the edge of it looking all around us just to see if anything was affecting the temperature.

“Is that you making the temperature drop?” He asked sitting beside me on the floor.

“No Nick, I couldn’t possibly do that..” I said flatly

“Not you.” He laughed. “Lady Margaret, are you here? If you are speak into that red light on the floor.” He said referring to the digital recorder.

Before any kind of silence fell once again, Ringo started freaking out; barking and whining at nothing and wouldn’t stop even after I commanded him to sit by us. Eventually I got up, gave the camera to Nick and walked over to Ringo to pick him up, but that’s when it hit me; it felt like I had walked into a tank of water, the air was heavy and I couldn’t hear properly, I also felt sad, _really_ sad, like nothing else in this world was worth living for.

_Get a hold of yourself, this is the spirit trying to manipulate you, sure it may be communicating but don’t go overboard!_

“Luna?” Nick’s voice floated through the darkness. I could distantly hear Ringo whining loudly.

“eh?” I mumbled, holding my head

“Luna are you okay?”

“Yeah...yeah I’m fine.” I replied slowly, the heaviness was easing slightly and I started feeling more like myself. Within a few moments it was as if nothing had happened, I looked around in a state of slight confusion; where had _that_ suddenly come from?!

“Are you alright?” Nick asked suddenly beside me in the darkness.

“I think so...” I answered blinking rapidly, although it wouldn’t make seeing any easier in the pitch blackness of the dungeons.

“Hmm...are you okay to stay down here a little longer?”

“yeah..I’ll just film though..” I replied, taking the camera and sitting against the wall again.

“We’re you trying to communicate with my friend Luna?” Nick asked standing up and walking around the cell. My head was still foggy and I wasn’t quite sure where we were, all I knew was that we were in Berry Pomeroy Castle somewhere and that Zak had seen something weird earlier that scared the living crap out of him.

“Feel free to try and communicate with me, I welcome any interaction with open arms.” He continued.

The cell remained quiet, no sound came from anywhere other than our own breathing. Ringo had calmed down and was sat on the floor staring into space it seemed. We were clearly getting no response from whatever caused my dizzy spell so we decided to meet back up with Zak and Aaron to decide what to do next.

We agrred to meet up at the entrance to the tunnels we explored earlier, Zak seemed as unsettled as ever; he wanted to get down there and get us to experience what he did.

“Guys hurry up already!” he snapped heading into the tunnel. I wasn’t sure if going down there was a good idea, but if I’ve learnt one thing whilst being with these guys it’s that arguing wing with Zak when he’s in one of these moods is a no-no, unless lives are at stake – which they aren’t...yet.

I sighed heavily as I ushered Ringo in front of me, Aaron was not too far in front and Nick not far behind us. The atmosphere seemed different in the tunnel, as we got closer to the room Zak and I had originally landed in my stomach had started twisting itself into a knot, it was pleasant at all. The broken furniture casted suspicious shadows in the moonlight, they unsettled me further and my stomach started doing flips making me feel like throwing up.

“It was through here...” Zak instructed as he lead us through the doorway. We ended up in an extremely dusty room which seemed somewhat creepy, my stomach wasn’t helping matters.

“So what did you see?” Nick asked once we had all squeezed into the room.

“Okay, I swear, as clear as day I saw...something...i’m not even sure what it was.” Zak began. “I saw this white...thing in the doorway, it looked like a human but...” he stopped as if he was listening hard to the air around us.

“But..?” I urged tugging Ringo closer to me and trying to keep my stomach from emptying its contents onto the floor.

“...it had no head...” Zak muttered. “I looked at it and it just stood there...like frozen..then I started feeling sick and dizzy so I just sat down.”

“And...that’s it?” Aaron asked panning the camera around to see our reactions.

“Yeah..but it was so freaking weird, I was sat there still staring at it and then I swear to God, I swear to God that something screamed. It wasn’t Luna because I know what she sounds like in distress...it was something else... _someone_ else...”

“...well...you said it was a white ‘thing’. Did it have any defining features?” Nick asked.

“It looked like it was wearing a gown...or dress....I really don’t know, it was so sudden and surprising that I didn’t really take that into account.”

It started getting cold, the hairs on my arms were standing up, I wasn’t sure if they could feel it or whether it was just me. I looked down expecting to see Ringo but he wasn’t there, his leash led me to him though; he was sniffing around Zak’s feet

“If you’re still here I want you to show yourself!” Zak suddenly called out. What happened next will forever be burned into my mind...

The area got even colder, this time the rest of the guys acknowledged this and started commenting on it, they failed to realise however that something else was happening, in the doorway we had entered through there seemed to be a small amount of fog gathering at the bottom near the floor. I was going to bring this up to them but I was stopped short by fear; the fog had started shaping itself into a round shape...almost like a head.

“OH MY GOD!” Zak suddenly shouted, I spun around and tried to see what he was yelling about this time which was when I saw it; the thing Zak had previously described was currently no more than five feet away from us. He was right....it didn’t have a head.


	5. The analysis - Round 1

**The analysis - Round 1**

We all stood transfixed on the misty apparition floating before us, a feeling of dread come over me. This ‘thing’ floated a few centimetres above the ground and it didn’t seem to have a head. Nick stood there with the camera somewhat pointed at the apparition, I backed into the opposite wall with Ringo pulling towards the spirit, whilst Zak and Aaron simply stared at it half in shock and half in terror I expect.

“Who are you?” Nick asked the apparition which just floated across the room from us.

I started shaking, partially due to fear and partially due to the current low temperature of the room. The apparition started to fade slightly and the dizziness had started to diminish from my head. Ringo was growling at the end of his leash and it didn’t occur to me to drag him back towards me. Zak on the other hand looked more than shocked; he had grabbed the digital recorder and was standing in the middle of the room holding it out towards the rapidly disappearing spirit.

“Speak into this red light I’m holding.” He stated I could see he was shaking slightly.

“Excuse my bad timing...but it doesn’t have a head Zak...how can it speak?” I pointed out after finding my voice.

“SH!” he snapped.

I folded my arms across my chest, I knew Zak could be stubborn and annoying but was that really necessary? The apparition disappeared completely and the temperature returned to normal. No-one said anything, no-one moved, I could faintly hear the wind outside the mansion grounds.

“So....now what?” Aaron asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Good question...any idea what time it is?” Nick continued.

“....about half three...” Aaron replied. “Zak what should we do now?”

Our leader stood motionless staring at the space the apparition had been, he refused to answer Aaron’s question. It started getting a little creepy how he was just standing there.

“Zak…dude..” Nick said tugging Zak’s arm.

“I…” he uttered. “It was right _there_ Nick! Right _there_!” he said pointing across the room frantically.

“I know…I know…and we got it on camera…” he replied

“We have?” Zak said suddenly turning around. “Let me see.”

“It’s not the best of quality…there was a bit of interference but you can still see the apparition.”

We crowded around the small LCD screen of Nick’s camera. He was right about the interference as the footage blurred every few moments yet there was one thing we could all see very clearly; the misty white figure standing across the room from us.

“Dude…we just caught an apparition clear as day…” Aaron muttered

“Right, get back to the base and back that tape up. We’re NOT losing that footage.” Zak instructed to Nick. “Go!”

“Aaron come on.” Nick said as he passed me.

So I was left with the now pumped up Zak in the room where we had seen a headless apparition. The only comforting thing about this was Ringo’s company in all of this. It was at this point it occurred to me that the rest of them didn’t know about the fog around the door.

“Um Zak?” I asked quietly

“Yes?”

“Um…right before we saw the spirit….i looked down at the floor of the doorway…and there was a lot of fog down there.” I explained “and…it formed a head shape…I didn’t want to distract you at the time…”

“You saw a head?” he asked

“Well it could’ve been a head…or just a ball of mist…I don’t know...”

“Where did you see it again?”

“By the doorway…on the floor…”

He walked around and through the doorway several times and came back to me. I was getting tired; I wasn’t used to staying up for nearly 18 hours…Ringo was getting cranky too.

“Ugh…I can’t see anything…I think we should just call it a night…” Zak finally replied.

“Agreed…” I mumbled

We made our way up to the main gates of the castle grounds where the van was parked with our ‘nerve system’ of computers was located in the back. Aaron and Nick were sat in the van with wires going everywhere from their cameras and digital recorders.

“Right, I’m calling it a night now. Aaron can you come and help me collect the x-cameras?” Zak asked.

“Yeah sure” Aaron replied as he ambled out of the van.

“Luna stay here with Nick and just pack up the cameras as we bring them to you.” Zak instructed as he started walking back towards to castle.

I did as I was told and started packing up any loose equipment that was lying around, including Nick’s camera which had since backed up all footage of the apparition. Ringo quickly fell asleep in one of the seats whilst we were sorting everything out. By the time Aaron came back with the first load of cameras we had put away all the unnecessary equipment into their compartments in the back of the van.

After a few more trips from Aaron and Zak we had finally retrieved all of the x-cameras and digital recorders. We left the grounds of Berry Pomeroy Castle all exhausted from our night’s investigating, although Zak was still pumped up from seeing that we caught the apparition on camera. The countryside rolled past as we headed back to the hotel, I was so tired I kept nearly falling asleep on whoever was sat next to me.

“Oi don’t fall asleep, we’re nearly at the hotel.” Aaron said from beside me.

 “Ah…sorry...” I mumbled. The van rolled up in the parking lot of the hotel, we unloaded the equipment and lugged it all up to the room without saying much to each other. I collapsed on a bed and was nearly asleep when I was rudely pushed off the bed. As I glared up at whoever pushed me I heard laughter erupting from around me.

“Wow…you’re really tired…” Zak commented stretching out a hand to help me up “You just fell onto my bed without a care in the world...”

“Oh…I see…” I said standing up and walking over to my bed, this time I fell asleep with no interruptions.

**~*~**

Ringo seems to think that waking everyone up by licking their faces is a good idea. He is sadly mistake; I rolled over mumbling about being stuck with three immature guys, Aaron just continued sleeping, Nick woke up and just started laughing before falling back asleep and Zak went berserk.

“What the hell?” he shouted as the puppy sat next to him on the bed wagging his tail.

“Shut up and stop being a girl Zak.” I mumbled.

“I’m not being a girl. I’m just not used to being woken up by a dog.” He replied curtly.

“Whatever you say Zak…” Nick chimed in.

“Ugh, fine.” He snapped “We better start analysing the video footage.”

Perfect. Zak is in a bad mood and we’re gonna be stuck with him for the rest of the day in a stuffy hotel room.

“I’m going to take a shower…” I said trying to avoid setting Zak off on a tyrant.

“Fine. I’m going to find some food.” Zak replied.

With that he stormed out of the room. I looked at Nick who had since sat up and was rubbing the back of his head.

“He’s not a morning person is he?” I asked as I collected a change of clothes and a towel from my bag.

“Nope. Never has been and probably never will.” He answered.

“Right, well I’ll try not to be too long in the bathroom.” I said

“Okay, I’ll try and get Zak to calm down when he gets back.”

I walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on, hot water pounded down inside the shower. I stripped off and stepped under the cascading water, my thoughts were cleared by the steam, my muscles were soothed as the dust and dirt was washed off.  Peace returned to my mind, tiredness still hung over me like a dark cloud but I was awake now and might as well do something useful with myself.

As I walked back into the room wearing a change of clothes and my hair in a long plait down my back I noticed that Zak was still out of the room, I also took note that Aaron and Ringo were gone.

“Aaron’s taken Ringo for a walk as he was getting restless.” Nick explained when he saw my worried expression.

“Who Ringo or Aaron?” I asked stupidly.

“Both really” He laughed “and who knows where Zak is...he’s been gone for half an hour.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

“...no, he’s done it plenty of times before.”

My mind flashed back to the last time Zak went off on one...back on the way to Preston Castle...

“You alright?” Nick asked bringing me out of my distant memories.

“Yeah fine. So should we start going through the video and EVPs?” I said trying to change topic.

“Sounds good, maybe Zak will be happier if he walks in and we’re hard at work.” He replied

**~*~**

Zak eventually returned nearly three hours later. Aaron walked back in nearly half an hour after Nick and I originally started analysing possible evidence so by the time our forever-faithful leader got his butt back into the hotel room we had nearly gone through all the digital recorders and were gradually starting on the video footage.

“And where have you been Zachary Bagans?” I asked as soon as he walked through the door. I got both Nick and Aaron laughing at my tone of voice before Zak even replied.

“I was getting food.” He answered

“And that took you nearly four hours?” I continued in a sceptical voice.

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Then where great tell is said food?”

“...I ate it.”

“What?”

“I ate it. So did we get anything good?” he said changing the subject.

“ZACHARY BAGANS!” I shouted trying not to laugh and break my stern voice.

“What?” he asked looking offended.

“You took four hours to get food and then have the nerve to come back here with none! That’s what!”

“...yes..and?”

I was caught halfway between being mad and being in hysterical laughter. This was obviously an act but the way he was going along with it made it nearly unbearable.

“Okay...be honest... where were you for the past four hours?” I asked dropping my tone of voice

“eating.”

I was hoping he wasn’t being serious, however his expression said it all; he had been eating for the past four hours...

“...really?” Nick chimed in, obviously as surprised as I was.

“yes.”

“Really?” Aaron asked much louder.

“YES how many times do I have to say?” Zak said getting a little annoyed.

We sat in silence for a few moments before I said;” Well...no-one eats for _four_ hours.”

“Fine, whatever. How much stuff have you analysed?” He asked

“Luna’s done most of the EVPs and picked out a few things for you to hear. I’ve been doing both EVPs and video and also have a few things for you to see. Whilst Aaron’s been cleaning up the footage of the headless thing in the basement as best as he can.” Nick explained.

“Sounds good. Let’s have a listen to those EVPs then Luna.”

I played each clip in turn whilst Zak listened intently, picking out which ones were natural sounds, contaminated or otherwise until he reached a clip from around the same time we saw the apparition. His face turned a shade of white and I had to shake him slightly to get him to respond to me.

“Zak?” I repeated for the fourth time.

“Yeah...that sounds...like screaming..” he mumbled

“That’s what I thought...i suppose that if someone was decapitated violently they would scream a lot...” I replied

“Maybe...it kind of makes sense...” he said. “Got any other clips?”

“Just one...i think you might be a little..uh..just listen..” I replied reluctantly as I played it.

I watched as his expression changed from thoughtful to complete shock, I knew exactly what he was thinking... when I had first heard it my blood turned cold.

“Why were they calling _you_ out?” he whispered trying not to alert Nick or Aaron.

“I...I don’t know...” I replied.


	6. Analysis - Round 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Past me seemed to think capitalising everything instead of putting it in italics was the best way to stress a point... *shakes head disapprovingly*

**Analysis - Round 2**

I stared at Zak’s concerned face. This was obviously bad, a spirit calling _me_ out by name, and not in a nice way either.

“So...where was this captured?” he asked slowly

“The top of the North tower. Nick and I had been pursuing footsteps we had heard which led us up there.” I replied looking at my notes from that evening.

We listened to it again, I heard Nick calling out to the blue lady after Ringo started growling; _“Don’t be afraid of our puppy, he’s only picking up your presence. Please speak into this red light my friend is holding, we will be able to hear you later on”_ a few moments of nothing before a quick growl comes through my earphone;

“... _gimme the girl..._ ”

For the second time that day my blood ran cold. Zak disconnected the earphones from the laptop and called to get Nick and Aaron’s attention. He played the clip back over and over again, they both agreed what it was saying but couldn’t agree on _who_ was saying it..

“I’m pretty sure it isn’t the blue lady Aaron....it sounds male.” Nick said

“Spirits can manipulate their voices Nick, we’ve got the proof time and time again.” He answered

“But still, that didn’t sound anything like a distressed lady, it sounded more like a pissed of dude.”

I was getting slowly more irritated. They were bickering like a pair of school girls and I was getting the urge to bash their heads together. Unfortunately Zak beat me to it;

“Guys, the point is we have captured _someone_ responding to the questions asked, and that they were actively trying to communicate.” He said

Ringo had woken up from his now two hour nap and was pestering me to be walked. Zak noticed this and decided there was only one way to get Nick and Aaron to agree to disagree;

“Right, you both can walk the dog and continue to argue about the identity of the voice whilst Luna and I look through the rest of the evidence.” He instructed.

“What? Why?” Aaron protested

“Because you’re not going to agree now and I don’t want you bugging me whilst I’m looking through video footage. Now go!”

The two guys slinked out of the room muttering to each other as they went with Ringo tugging them along. The room was finally quiet again and my attention turned to Nick’s laptop with a playlist of video footage to look at. I sat beside Zak as he played the clips one by one.

Nick had gone through all the video we recorded and obviously picked out ones he had thought to be possible or legitimate evidence. However Zak was quick to point out to me how certain ‘shadow figures’ were really shadows cast by us or animals from outside the shot. He also told me about the difference between orbs and bugs;

“You see, bugs have a distinct flight path; they come into the shot and tend to stick in a straight line and then fly out of the shot. Orbs however can seem to pulsate and generally don’t have a fixed flight path. They also appear suddenly and disappear suddenly within shot frequently.” He said pointing to a bug in one of the videos.

“And dust is like snow flurries right?” I asked

“Yup. Sounds like you’ve been paying attention to what I say in the episodes.” He replied with a chuckle.

“I do tend to listen when it’s concerning something I’m interested in.” I smugly respond.

“haha right.”

We played the next few clips which only showed a few odd orbs of light here and there but nothing terribly exciting. Zak selected the last clip which had a note written beside it;

‘Look out at 4:26’

“...okay then...” he slowly said as he played the clip. It was from the dungeons and Nick and I were sat in the cell. I then realised what this clips was; it was when I felt weird as I was trying to get Ringo to calm down.

We watched it through and judging by Zak’s facial expression he was confused so I explained to him what happened and how I felt at the time. He looked at me with understanding and thoughtfulness. I wondered what had come over him until he burst out laughing randomly.

“I’m sorry it’s just the face you make when you’re explaining things like this.” He said afterwards.

“Right, I’m _so_ glad I’m entertaining.” I replied

“Good good.”

“So are you going to look at the footage of that apparition?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think Aaron has finished cleaning it up yet...” he replied slowly

“oh..okay...” I said.

The room went silent.  This kind of reminded me of the awkward time after my partial possession at my first investigation during which I snarled at him. I tried not to let on that I felt awkward however I think I gave it away a little by deciding to somewhat clean the disaster zone of a room.

“Are you okay?” he asked when I was stood in the middle of the now clean room looking somewhat puzzled.

“Yeah I’m fine.” I answered

“I don’t remember you cleaning our other hotel rooms to such a degree.” He said raising an eyebrow at me.

“I...um..” I uttered

“What?”

“Things..”

“Did the EVP creep you out?”

“..A little...”

“Well chances are you won’t have to go back there..” he replied.

“Yeah...”

“Have you ever told anyone about what happened at the DuVade mansion?” He asked after a few moments of silence.

“..Only a few…my friend Kate...a few trusted people at the local church...” I replied fiddling with my hair.

“Your parents?”

“Gosh no, they don’t believe in this kind of stuff.” I said gesturing to the laptop with EVPs on it. “As far as they know I went on a surprise school trip, Kate managed to spin a long complicated tale to them whilst we were off provoking spirits in America.” I continued, laughing at the thought of Kate confusing the hack out of my strict parents.

“Did they believe it?” He asked trying not to laugh.

“”I think so, if not they haven’t said anything.”

“So has anyone come up to you saying they’ve seen you on Ghost Adventures?”

“A few, like on the street mainly. Do you remember when I called you in the middle of the night because one person would not leave me alone until they had spoken to you?”

“Yes, I also remember the horrendous phone bill afterwards...” he laughed.

“Yeah...sorry about that.” I laughed.

“No worries, it was for a good reason.”

“Yes, they would’ve ended up stalking me probably. Which wouldn’t be a first.”

“Really?”

“Anyway.” I sternly said, I was not about to go into my past and how I ended up being stalked for ages. “What are we going to do now?”

“Beats me, Nick and Aaron are probably still arguing somewhere.” Zak replied trying to hide his smirk.

“Well...where are we going to investigate once we’re done here?”

“...promise you won’t kill me?” he asked looking at me with puppy-dog eyes. I’ve never liked it when he’s done that...he does the same think to Aaron when they are about to abandon him in a demonic hotspot.

“....I cannot in good conscience do that.” I muttered. “Just tell me.”

“...We’re going to the Ancient Ram Inn.”

It took me a few seconds to remember where that was, despite the fact it’s literally a ten minute drive from my house. I then remembered what happened last time they went there...

“Oh hell no, I am _not_ offering myself up to the Incubus. You hear me Zachary Bagans?! NO.” I shouted. There was no way in hell that I was going to do that, if Zak wanted evidence that badly he can offer himself up again.

“Calm down, I wasn’t going to ask you.” He said “this is what I was worried would happen.”

“I’m pretty sure nearly every other fan would have the same reaction...well nearly....actually..”

“Hahaha, so you’re just chicken then?” he laughed

“NO.” I quickly said “I’m just not having anything like... _that_... following me home.”

“Fair enough...”

Nick and Aaron re-entered the room, both looking somewhat exhausted and a little annoyed. Ringo bounded towards me with his leash still attached and tail wagging like crazy.

“That puppy...has WAY too much energy...” Aaron puffed

“I could’ve told you that.” I replied

“Why didn’t you?” Nick asked. “It would’ve saved us a lot of time trying to figure out how far he was going to run.”

“Nah.” I laughed.

“Right, so I have listened and watched all the stuff you’ve gathered so far.” Zak said changing the subject. “And…well to cut a long story short; most of the video evidence was able to be debunked or was non-conclusive.”

“I need to finish sorting out the video of the apparition. It’ll only take a sec.” Aaron told us before slouching back into his chair in front of his laptop.

“So should we start packing up so we can move onto the next location?” Nick asked

“Yeah.” Zak replied getting up and scrutinising his travel case on the floor.

I was not looking forward to this next location…and I think I had every reason to do so, I could tell that this spirit calling me out was just the start of a flurry of activity.


	7. A serious case of deja vu

**A serious case of deja vu**

I had a dream that night; I was at the ancient ram inn, I was alone in the room where Zak, Nick and Aaron had done the ancient ritual last time they were here. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see anything except the red light on the digital recorder telling me it was recording. The room seemed cold and uninviting, I kept hearing noises from all around me; scrambling of claws, growls, whispers, laughs and other skin crawling sounds. A familiar feeling of tread came over me; something was here and it wanted me out, I was about to turn and leave when my back started burning, I felt the trickle of blood run down my lower back with a sticky hotness. I screamed in the hope someone would hear me, anyone, just someone...

“Luna quit screaming!” Nick’s voice boomed, shattering the nightmare.

“What?” I said sitting up. I was in the hotel room, it was the night before our lockdown and I was screaming in my sleep, again.

“You need to stop doing that...it’s not getting either of us sleep.” Nick complained drawing me into a comforting hug. The three guys had drawn straws and Nick had ended up with the short one; thus he had the task of making sure I was well rested for the lockdown of my life. Yet for the past three days I had woken up screaming and he was getting tired of it.

“Sorry...” I mumbled flattening down my hair. “What time is it?”

“Two am.” He muttered

“...oops...” I whisper. He was clearly annoyed. But I couldn’t help these nightmares, even Jay’s presence wasn’t calming me down; and I could feel his presence strongly now. It’s as if every-time I go to a haunted location his energy grows and he becomes more obvious to me.

“Just try to get some sleep...” and as soon as I was pulled from my nightmare he was asleep in his bed again.

There was no way I was going to be able to sleep, but I knew that the lockdown would be ten times more dangerous for me if I was tired so I pulled the covers of the hotel bed back over my head and closed my eyes in an effort to sleep.

**~*~**

Whatever Jay did to prevent the nightmares worked because the next time Nick was shaking me awake it was because we had both overslept and only had five minutes to be ready to leave. At least he was happier this time around;

“Come on, Zak will kill us both if we aren’t in the lobby in five minutes.” He said.

“Yeah yeah, as always the punishment for being late is death.” I replied collecting some clothing from my bag. Ringo had stayed with Zak and Aaron so that was one less thing I had to worry about as I got dressed in the bathroom. The past few days had gone by quickly, we travelled from our previous location to the village that was home to the ancient ram inn. Zak had already met up with ‘old man Humphreys’ as he called him and filmed an interview with him and any other people he could find who had a connection with the weird place.

“Ready?” I asked Nick as I gathered up my day bag and the digital recorders which had been on charge over the past few days.

“Yup, let’s go then.” He replied and led me down to the lobby where Zak was waiting with Aaron and Ringo.

“So, any screaming last night?” Zak asked us.

“Yeah, two am this morning...” Nick replied.

“Well I guess it can’t be helped...was it the same nightmare?” he asked me.

“Yep...in the ancient ram inn...” I muttered.

“Guys we need to go...like now...” Aaron commented bringing us out of our discussion.

“Okay, Luna you’re staying with Aaron for tonight’s investigation.” Zak told me.

“Does that mean I don’t have to go into the dangerous places as bait then?” Aaron asked with a triumphant grin on his face.

“Oh I didn’t say that Aaron...I didn’t say that at all...” Our leader smirked as he opened the doors of the van and placed the equipment inside.

“Damn it...”

The short trip to the ancient ram inn went by in a flash, before I knew what hit me we were standing outside the small cottage. From the outside you’d wonder why people allegedly left through the windows in the middle of the night, however I knew better...i knew there were dark forces inside and they would not be happy about being challenged.

“Is the camera on?” Zak asked Aaron as he stood in front of the cottage. The equipment tech nodded and motioned for Zak to start talking.

“Here we are in South-west England, at one of our darker investigation sites; The Ancient Ram Inn.” He said pacing back and forth. “Built in 1145, in Wotton-under-Edge this building has gained international fame as one of the most haunted inns in Britain, with legends of it being built on a pagan burial ground and also directly on top of a layline; a spiritually charged passage of which can attract paranormal activity. What can I say? We’ve experienced some crazy activity in there.”

We were led around the creepy cottage; I was forced to carry Ringo as he wouldn’t voluntarily walk through the door. I didn’t blame him; the house was freaky, it had so many weird...things...it also smelt like something had died in there, which I suppose was entirely possible given the state of things.

I instantly didn’t like the vibe that Mr Humphreys gave off...something about him creeped me out, especially the way he kept looking at me when he was talking about the Incubus and Succubus attacks. Old man Humphreys led us through the house pointing out various parts where weird things were discovered; like the graves of children allegedly sacrificed in pagan rituals, the barn where someone was thrown against the wall and the witches’ room where Zak had done the freaky ritual last time they were here.

As we were led up to the Bishop’s room Ringo started whining and squirming in my arms, I knew some of the claims of activity in that room and what he could probably feel would be distressing to him, however backing out of a walkthrough was a no-no. Especially in a place like this where you _need_ to know what you’re up against. So I whispered in my puppy’s ear; “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine, God won’t let us come to harm...” It seemed to calm him down enough for us to proceed into the room behind the rest of the guys.

“This...is where ten possessions took place...” The old man recalled as if from a distant memory.

“ _Ten_?” Zak repeated. “So there haven’t been anymore since we came last time.”

“No...no, but just inform your lady friend here that this is no play ground, this is an evil place...if no other room in this house....it’s this one she should stay out of...”

“Oh-kay...get that Luna?” Zak asked me.

“Yup, besides, if I’m staying with Aaron chances are we’ll end up in the barn.” I replied

“Good.”

“Uh Zak?” Nick asked

“What?”

“My audio’s dead.”

“What?! This happened last time...” the leader sighed. “Aaron is yours still working?”

“Yeah.” Aaron replied

“Maybe...you should consider the fact that something in here doesn’t like you filming...” I said.

Zak grumbled something about me becoming more and more like Nick in the fact I am the voice of reason before seeming to settle on a plan of action. “Right, let’s find Lady Snake.”

“Zak...i am not participating in a weird ass ritual, nor am I offering myself as a gift to the incubus.” I said sternly.

“I never said _you_ were.” He replied glancing at Aaron.

“Oh hell no Zak.” The big man responded “Remember what happened last time? I’m not doing that again.”

“I do remember, and it got us some great evidence, besides it won’t do any harm.”

“Zak, we _all_ know you’re lying, you offered yourself last time and if I recall correctly you phoned me five times in a space of three days after that investigation, complaining about ‘weird dreams’” Nick interjected.

“Alright, I’ll offer myself up, but you two have to perform the ritual with me again.” He said to both Nick and Aaron. “Luna can film so it’s all good.”

I still wasn’t convinced; this was such a bad idea. But once Zak’s mind is set on something it’s hard to take it away. So we contacted Lady Snake, and she arrived to do the ritual again, Ringo was whimpering in my free arm as I filmed my three brother-like friends practically asking to be possessed.  Zak led down on the floor much like he did the first time they did it, I couldn’t help but feel scared for him, if it was me there I would’ve been  struggling to not start screaming bloody murder.

“Aaron looks weird...” he uttered. “Like really weird.”

Talk about déjà vu...I tried to not laugh when the half-hearted banter flew between them, that was quickly put out of my mind when I heard what sounded like a whisper in my ear. I knew I hadn’t imagined it as Ringo was looking around too; he started growling softly as if he was threatened, I tried to push it out of my mind and focus on the ongoing ritual in front of me.

“Did you hear _that_?” Nick exclaimed.

“Oh my God...” the witch replied. I swear if they had heard a growl or something of that nature; I didn’t want to know.

“Luna...are you getting this?” Aaron asked me from inside the circle of weirdness.

“I think so, I keep hearing a whispering from beside me...” I mumbled in reply as a breeze rushed past me.

“What?”

“I think something’s definitely here....” I said.

“Guys...i feel tingling on my legs again...” Zak informed us.

“She’s in, again.” Nick replied. This was becoming more and more like the first time they came here.

“Uh...”

“Well...i think you’re all going to have an eventful night...just be careful is all I can say...” Lady Snake said and she concluded the ritual, releasing them from the circle they were in. I was not looking forward to tonight, and made a mental note to stay a prayer of protection before lockdown.

**~*~**

I sat in the van as the guys hauled the equipment into the house, I had Ringo on my lap and my crucifix necklace in my hand, I hardly ever wore it as I hardly ever felt threatened, yet this lockdown was something else entirely. As I fastened it around my neck I muttered to myself a short prayer of protection my old friend Will had told me once;

‘ _May the white light of the Lords spirit surround me and protect me. Help me Jesus to overcome what evil that is in my path. Surround me with your love and light Jesus ...amen’_

I felt somewhat at ease after that, I could almost sense Ringo’s body loosen from the tension he had gained throughout the day so far, I could also slightly feel Jay’s presence behind me; I hoped the prayer didn’t stop him from coming to my rescue should needs be...

“Ready Luna?” Nick’s head popped through the open window of the van. “We’re about to get locked in, so grab what you need and get inside.”

“Okay.” I replied, I shoved everything into my bag and hurried inside, this time Ringo cautiously made his way across the threshold of the house on his own as I had my hands full with stuff. Zak was waiting in the hallway and directed me to go and help Aaron in the barn after I had deposited the equipment I was carrying at the temporary base. I did so and found the equipment tech in the Mayflower Barn as it was called, doing some temperature checks.

“Sup Luna?” he asked writing some figures down on a clipboard.

“Nothing much, you?”

“Just doing some final checks and then we’ll be ready for lights out. Are you ready for this?”

“Physically; yes, mentally; just about, emotionally; I’m not sure and spiritually; as best as could hope for.” I listed off.

“Wow, a simple yes or no would have sufficed.” He chuckled in response. “Ah well, let’s go and find out where Zak wants us to be tortured.”

We made our way back to Zak and Nick who were just about to turn the lights off and start recording. “Perfect timing, here’s a camera and a digital recorder. Go into the room where the incubus is said to attack.” Zak instructed without batting an eyelid.

“But...aren’t you the one who was offered up?” I asked taking the equipment from him.

“Yes....but we’re going to the bishops’ room first...so...unless you want to go up there and be possessed for the third time in your life...”

“You say it like it would happen automatically....” I replied.

“Probably because it would. Now go.”

Aaron and I slinked off with Ringo in tow as Zak turned out the lights, thus plunging us into complete darkness, I could see only by the LCD screen, Aaron had the digital recorder and we quickly became aware of some weird noises from around us in the house.

“I’m just sayin’...I’m not sitting on that couch where old man Humphreys gets attacked...so don’t even ask.” Aaron said to me.

“I wouldn’t dream of it Aaron.” I replied. “Are you rolling on the digital recorder?”

“Yep. So let’s do a quick EVP session.” He said standing near the couch. “Yo Incubus we’re here.”

“Aaron, the incubus is the male demon; you should be calling for the succubus.” I pointed out.

“Not if I’m not the one I’m setting up for as bait.” He replied.

“Aaron Goodwin....if you even think for one second that I am going to-” I started

“Sh, did you hear that?” he interrupted.

“No...What did you hear?”

“Like...a growl...”

My heart started pumping; I pointed the camera down at Ringo to see he was sat on the floor with his ears folded back. “Are you sure it wasn’t Ringo?” I asked

“Yeah...i heard it from...” he said turning around. “From...the couch...gimme the camera.”

“Well....I am so glad I’m not Zak then, because that thing doesn’t sound nice...” I commented handing him the camera.

We fell into silence before Aaron pointed out something that made me wish I had something to throw at him; “You know how the legend goes that the succubus takes sperm from a guy and then in its incubus form plants it in a girl?”

“Yeah...why?” I asked unsure of what he was getting at.

“Well...wouldn’t it be funny if...the succubus attacked Zak and then...in its incubus form...attacked you?”

I so wished I had something to throw at him. “Aaron....what the hell caused you to think that would be _funny_?!” I snapped.

“Think about it, it’s possible.” He said trying to defend his perverted thinking.

“I don’t give a fuck if it’s possible, just the idea of....ugh!” I replied getting more and more flustered. I had to admit it was quite funny when I ignored the possible outcome being me mothering Zak’s child which wasn’t exactly easy...

“Calm down, sheesh...but the funniest part?” he continued

“What Aaron, what could possibly be the funniest part?” I asked.

“I got your response on tape, and on camera.” He chuckled. “It looked quite funny to say the least.”

“Aaron!” I yelled.

“Sh, you’ll disrupt Zak and Nick’s EVP session, and then they’ll come down to find out why you’re yelling and we’ll have to explain, and we don’t want that do we? I mean I can imagine Nick’s face would be priceless, but Zak would be a little more annoyed.”

I muttered something incoherent about the scheming piece of bait that was Aaron Goodwin when something grabbed my attention and I didn’t like it one bit; my legs were starting to feel weird...and not in a good way..


	8. The return of the dark side

**The return of the dark side**

“Aaron...” I mumbled

“Yeah?” he replied

“...My legs feel weird...”

“Are you for real?!” he asked

“No Aaron I’m a bloody figment of your imagination – of course I’m being serious!” I snapped

“Alright! Calm down...uh…” he started fumbling with the various pieces of equipment he had, Ringo was trying to get off his leash and run away from this place. I didn’t blame him.

“…it’s stopped…but..” I mumbled after a few moments of Aaron panicking. What was all that about? Was it the incubus?

“Okay, hold still; I’m going to do an EMF sweep.” He said grabbing a small white box from his equipment vest, and walking slowly around the room. “It doesn’t seem particularly high…”

“Well…I can only assume all the talk about it probably stirred up some activity.” I replied. “But it’s gone now…so…let’s just continue the EVP session.”

“Okay…if you’re sure.”

The EVP session didn’t seem to gain any response that we heard of, the air remained humid and stuffy and Ringo appeared on edge still. Aaron was in the middle of changing tapes on the handheld camera when Nick appeared in the doorway.

“Zak wants you both to join us in the Bishop’s room.” He said causing us both to jump at first.

“Okay, we’re just replacing tapes in the camera and digital recorder so we’ll be up in a few seconds.” Aaron replied. “Actually Luna can go ahead and I’ll catch up.”

I left Aaron in the front room and followed Nick up the steep staircase to the Bishop’s room with Ringo reluctantly trotting behind me. Zak was stood at the fireplace with his handheld camera sat on the mantelpiece. He turned around when he heard Ringo starting to whine as I pulled him across the threshold of the room.

“Is he okay?”  Zak asked

“Yeah, i think he’s just picking up on some activity…” I replied picking him up and hugging him.

“Okay…where’s Aaron?”

“Changing tapes downstairs, he’ll be up in a few moments.” Nick replied.

“So did either of you experience anything with the incubus or succubus?” Zak asked

“Um…not really…” I said trying to ignore the laughter building inside of me from Aaron’s thought earlier.

“…okay. So we’re going to do an EVP session up here, the only thing that I warn you is that they’ve had ten possessions in this room, and we don’t have a lot of holy water left.”

“Okay, um what should we do with Ringo? I asked.

“Hold him?” Nick suggested “Or settle him down on one of the beds?”

“I doubt he’ll settle down on one of the beds to be honest, but we’ll try anyway..” I put Ringo on top of the covers of the middle bed and got him to sit down, I sat next to him and kept one hand stroking his ear in an effort to keep him calm. Aaron arrived shortly afterwards and the questioning began once everyone was sat around the room.

“So, if there are any spirits here who want their voices heard now is the time to speak.” Zak declared to the darkness. “Any people who were sacrificed back in pagan times; now is the time for your voice to be heard.”

Obviously Zak was taking the sympathetic approach to clear out any spirits who were trapped here before laying into the demonic entities.  The room remained quiet, only our breathing and Zak’s pacing footsteps on the wooden floor which seemed to echo throughout the house. His tone of voice had changed by the time he asked the next question; “I’ve heard there are some demonic spirits in here, ones that cause possessions, who try to hurt people, well you’ve got to stop.”

Ringo’s ears flattened against his head, something was here, and he could sense it. I tried blocking out any intruding thoughts so I could find Jay’s presence in the room, but it was a wasted effort as Zak’s voice shattered any concentration I had obtained.

“Woah did you hear that?!” he exclaimed right next to me. “That was _loud_.”

“I didn’t.” I replied slightly annoyed.

“What? It was right next to you!” Aaron cried

The familiar feeling of dread overwhelmed me, I wish these spirits would pick on someone else for a change, after all; _I_ wasn’t the one who offered themselves up to the succubus. I sighed heavily and went back to trying to find Jay in the jumbled atmosphere of the room.

“This place is _evil._ You are responsible for that when you possess people.” Zak continued. “I want you to communicate with us, talk to us.”

I was too busy concentrating on Jay to realise what Zak had just said, however it soon became apparent that any kind of activity wasn’t able to be heard by us. After giving up on trying to sense Jay I tried to concentrate on picking out any weird noises that occurred; which were few and far between at this point.  Zak had decided to take a different approach and laid out on one of the beds completely at ease.

“If you are here succubus I want you to let me know you are here.” He demanded.

It was at this point I became aware of my back becoming colder, I turned around to try and debunk whatever was causing it when Ringo leapt off my lap and bounded towards the door obviously spooked; Aaron tried his best to comfort him whilst I sat bewildered by the events happening.

“Let me know you are here, I’m offering myself up to you.” Zak’s voice became louder and more determined.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea dude?” Nick asked from somewhere on the other side of the dark void in front of me.

“It’s Zak, of course it isn’t a good idea.” I remarked trying to pinpoint where everyone was and why my back was getting colder despite that fact I was moving around a lot.

“I feel a tingling sensation on my legs guys, get the thermal camera.” Zak barked.

I got handed the night-vision camera by Nick whilst he went to locate the thermal camera downstairs somewhere, at least I could see now via the LCD screen. Aaron was sat on the floor next to the door with Ringo reluctantly sat in front of him and Zak was spread eagle on the bed muttering inaudible things.

Whilst panning the camera around the room I noticed that there were various flickers on the screen, I wasn’t sure if this was normal or whether something was interfering with the camera, after glancing at the battery level and deciding that nothing seemed out of the ordinary I brushed it off as paranoia and pointed the camera back at the muttering Zak. Nick shortly arrived back with the thermal camera and started doing a sweep of the room when he stopped a few steps behind me.

“Luna…is your back cold?” he asked.

“A little…” I lied, it was like ice and I hadn’t known whether to interrupt Zak’s muttering to tell him. “Why?”

“Because there is a massive part of your back which is a good five degrees colder than the rest of your body…” he explained.

“Well…my back feels colder…and has done for a few minutes. I just thought that it was a breeze or something.” I lied again. I didn’t want them to think I was being attacked, I didn’t want to seem weak in comparison to them.

Zak had sat up by this point and was inquiring as to why I hadn’t told him earlier, when I told him I didn’t want to disrupt everything he seemed slightly put out before demanding I lift up the back of my shirt so he could look for scratches.

“Holy mother of God.” He muttered. “Aaron get me a digital camera, we need to document this.”

“Great….I’m being the unintentional bait.” I mumbled as I stood there slightly awkwardly with three guys and two cameras pointed at my back.

“On the plus side, you’re giving us great evidence!” Nick said cheerily trying to lift the mood.

“That’s not helping…” I replied as the white flashes of the digital camera briefly blinded me. Zak showed me the picture and clear as day there was a long scratch running the length of my spine from my bra strap down to the waist line of my jeans, it wasn’t bleeding but it was certainly there. Why is it always me who gets attacked? Why not one of the guys for a change?

“Right….somebody’s got some explaining to do….” I muttered as I pulled my shirt down again. “So then, who is the _wonderful_ spirit who just gave me a memento for tonight?” I asked the void of darkness.

The three guys just stood there very confused at my sudden change in investigation style. Ringo bounded over to me and Jay’s presence became clear in the still jumbled atmosphere of the room. “Because I would really like to ask you why the hell you attacked me rather than someone who was led on a bed practically asking for any sign of your presence?” I continued

“Luna, maybe you shouldn’t do tha-” Aaron started before he was cut short by Zak.

“Yeah, why didn’t you attack me? Are you too scared to show yourself to a grown man but you’ll happily pick on a girl?” His voice boomed “You coward!”

“Guys maybe we shouldn’t, I mean there had been possessions in this room.” Nick’s voice of reason chimed in. He had a good point, provoking spirits in a room notorious for possessions was not a good idea, fortunately Zak also realised this and disbanded the EVP session.

“Okay, Aaron and Luna go down to the barn and see if anything is prepared to talk to you, we’ll head into the witches room where the ritual took place earlier.” Zak instructed.

“Got it chief.” Aaron answered before taking Ringo’s leash from off the floor and handing it to me, the puppy seemed more than happy to be heading away from the Bishop’s room, I couldn’t blame him.

We arrived at the barn entrance and checked all the battery levels in the equipment before stepping into the large cluttered space where someone got thrown against a wall. It was filled with boxes brimming with all sorts of weird knick-knacks from what seemed like all eras of time. Aaron pointed out the wall which someone was thrown against after being levitated for a few moments; he then played some EVPs last time they were here.

The voices caught sounded a little nicer than the thing that had given me a scratch which was now causing my back to ache. Ringo was busying himself with inspecting every single box we walked past as we walked towards the far wall. After a while I let go of his leash so that we could get on and investigate the area. Aaron assured me that the door was closed and Zak had probably barricaded it; so there was no chance Ringo could get out.

“Hey spirits of the barn, I’m back so why don’t you show me your power and throw me against a wall?” Aaron called out. It struck me as odd that he of all people was asking to be thrown against the wall; then again maybe he had accepted that Zak wanted results and that there was only one way to get them in a place like this…

After a few moments of no activity he tried again to get a response; “I know you’re here, we caught your voices last time, so show yourself!”

The only thing that reacted to his demand was Ringo who came bounding back from a pile of boxes and started rubbing against my legs. “If you can’t show yourself then just speak into the right light Aaron’s holding.” I said trying to get my bearings properly in the dark room with the aid of the night-vision camera.

I thought I heard a small murmur from behind me but I concluded that it was probably either the wind or Ringo. Aaron started walking around the small non-cluttered space of the barn asking for anyone to communicate with us.  A few minutes later we both heard a voice from the wall that Aaron asked to be thrown against, my pulse quickened slightly as what I heard from it didn’t seem too friendly.

“ _…leave…._ ” Was what I heard in a raspy voice. Aaron seemed to disagree at first but we replayed the digital recorder back and could definitely tell what it was saying;

“ _…..leave now….or else…_ ”

I pointed the camera at Aaron, who had his signature shocked face on. “What the frig dude…” he muttered. “What will happen if we don’t leave?” he called out.

I heard nothing this time, but we played the recorder back again and found a voice I will never forget, even more so than the ones at Preston Castle…

“ _…you will…hurt…_ ”

It wasn’t a specific threat against me, or one of death, but the rapidness of the response and the tone of voice was enough to creep me out. “What…the hell?” I asked quietly.

“Of course we’d end up in the barn with the weird voices….” Aaron muttered in reply.

“Poor Aaron…” I said trying not to laugh.

“Poor me…wait. What?!”

“Nevermind….can we get out of here now?” I asked.

“Only if Zak hasn’t barricaded the door.”

I briskly walked to the door and tried opening it, the door was heavy if anything, but I got it open a crack and peered through into the darkness outside. I thought I felt something tug on my shoulder so I looked around and stretched out a hand to find whatever it was, instead I found a very cold pocket of air. My instant reaction was to attract Aaron’s attention, he arrived at the door with Ringo close behind him, I told him what I had found and he too could feel the cold pocket of air in front of me. It soon disappeared however before we could do anything about it, and pretty much as soon as that happened Zak and Nick were at the door telling us to wrap up for the night.

**~*~**

“So how was the barn?” Nick asked as we walked through the door of our hotel room.

“Not too bad…we heard some voices, but nothing much.” I replied stifling a yawn. “You?”

“The witch’s room was a little creepy; we heard some vicious growls and stuff. Can’t wait for you to hear them.” He said with a huge grin.

“Sounds like fun, however I wish to sleep, this investigation has taken a lot out of me…”

“Yeah, hopefully no nightmares this time. I want sleep too.”

I laughed and got into bed after briefly changing in the bathroom, the cool sheets were a good welcome to my aching back. I hoped my back wouldn’t scar as I already get enough questions about my arms and neck…I closed my eyes and drifted into a peaceful darkness, I could faintly feel Jay watching me as I fell asleep.


	9. Consequences of the lockdown

**Consequences of the lockdown**

The first thing I was aware of when I woke up was the unbearable pain I was in from my back. It felt as if my back was on fire, I couldn’t move so I just whimpered to Nick;

“Nick….my back hurts…and I can’t move…”

“Okay…I’ll get the first aid kit from Zak’s room.” He replied, getting out of bed and leaving the room

**~ five minutes later ~**

“Hold still Luna!” Zak snapped as I struggled against Nick’s hold on my arms.

“Oh I’m sorry but you’re causing my back to scream in pain.” I replied through gritted teeth. I was led on my bed with Nick holding down my arms whilst Aaron somewhat held down my legs. When Zak heard that my back was hurting he demanded that he took a look – so that’s how I ended up being held down whilst he prodded and poked my wound.

“You know, if you quit struggling maybe it’ll hurt less…” Nick muttered in my ear.

“No.” I bluntly said. According to Zak the wound had gotten worse, but it was beginning to heal over, however this didn’t stop him applying some weird gel to it that stung like crazy.

“This would make a funny ‘Aaron’s vlog’…” Aaron said quietly as I tried to not shudder against the stinging.

“No!” I snapped. “No way, no how, NO!”

“Calm down he wasn’t actually going to get out his camera.” Zak commented, “Now lie still!”

I did my best to do what I was told; it was hard to ignore the pain I was in though. “Why me….” I muttered

“Because you seemed the weakest probably.” Nick replied to my muttering.

“Right, done. Don’t move and you’ll be fine.” Zak announced.

“How am I supposed to _not_ move?” I asked

“Well…stay here all day…”

“But….there’s stuff to do…” I said

“Only analysing evidence. I’m sure if we give you all the thermal tapes you’ll be fine.” Nick chimed in.

“Fine.” I flatly replied. The three guys left briefly before Nick came back with a pile of tapes and two of the laptops, Ringo was following him and practically jumped on me when he saw me. “Calm down buddy, sheesh.” I said ruffling his fur.

“Here you go, four hours of thermal footage.” Nick said placing all the tapes on the bedside table. “And a laptop to watch them on. I’ll be reviewing the digital recorders so wave frantically if you find something – or alternatively throw a pillow at me.”

“Understood.” I acknowledged.

**~ A few hours later ~**

Watching lots of heat blobs on a laptop soon loses its novelty. I could easily pick out each of us as I shifted through the footage but as nothing was really happening I was starting to get bored. I had managed to sit up against the wall with the aid of several pillows to keep my back from burning every few seconds. Nick had been sat listening to the digital recorders for what seemed like forever, I was steadily losing interest in what was happening on the screen in front of me until a flash of purple caught my eye in the pale blue surroundings.

I paused the tape, it was when we were all in the bishop’s room and Zak was led on the bed, this was obviously when Nick had gotten the camera after weird things had been happening. The majority of the objects in the room were coloured a pale to dark blue depending on how cold they were in comparison to us. However one of the bedside tables was obstructed by a purple mist-like substance. I restarted the clip and watched as the mist seemed to dissipate within a few seconds, I paused the tape again.

“What?” Nick asked once I had been waving frantically for a few moments.

“I may have found something on thermal.” I replied

He pulled his remaining earphone out and came to sit on the side of my bed. I played the thermal clip without pointing it out to see if he could see it. At first he didn’t understand what he was meant to be looking at, so I replayed it again and again, eventually he picked it out.

“What is that?” he asked

“I was going to ask you the same thing. It just looks like mist, but it has a temperature difference to the rest of the room, so whatever it is…it’s not your average air.”

“Hmm…tag it and we’ll see what Zak thinks.” He commented and went back to the digital recorders.

I didn’t get many other hits, a few little weird orbs which I saw no point in bugging Nick about so I just tagged the tapes and moved on. The last tape I had was a separate recording of the moment before I got attacked, I could definitely see the temperature difference between my shoulders and the main part of my back which now has a long scratch down it.

I sighed heavily once I tagged what I saw as relevant and closed them all; Ringo was snoozing at the end of my bed peacefully. I glanced at my phone; three messages and one missed call. All the messages were from Kate enquiring to the state of my health, since my trip to America she had been slightly concerned about the number of times I got injured in someway. The reply I sent consisted mostly of me avoiding her questioning and more of me asking her how she was. I’m sure she’d be less than amused at my reply.

The missed call was also from Kate but it had occurred in the middle of our investigation so I had not received it due to my phone being off. I lazily pressed the call back button and waited. Nick had gone to ask Zak about something regarding an EVP so I was alone in the room.

“Hello?” my friend’s voice came through the phone.

“Hey, you called last night?” I asked

“Yeah, was it during your lockdown? Sorry!” she apologised.

“Don’t worry, I had my phone off, I didn’t get any of your messages until now either.”

“Oh, well….how are you?”

“I have another scratch, this time from my shoulder-blade to my lower back.” I replied

“ _Another one_? Sheesh Luna you need to stop this!” she said

“Well…it could be a lot worse.” I tried to reason.

Kate wasn’t seeing reason, she seriously thought I should go and see a church minister about this. I told her she was being ridiculous and to stop being paranoid, she then rudely hung up on me.

Nick came back into the room as I threw my phone over to the other side of the room, I was muttering about how no-one understands that of course this was dangerous, but not everything in life is safe and sound.

“Woah someone’s rubbed you the wrong way.” He remarked as he picked up the phone.

“Not really...” I bluntly replied, stroking Ringo as he led next to me.

“Clearly someone’s annoyed you.” Nick said sitting on the edge of my bed looking at me. “What did they say?”

“Well my friend seems to think that in light of my latest injury I should go and see a church minister. She doesn’t understand that this field is dangerous wherever we go.” I explained. “Sometimes I feel that no-one really knows what we go through and that once you’re involved that it’s not easy to just leave.”

“Don’t worry about it, in some ways she’s right but I heard what you said in the van just before our last investigation, you seem like you know what you let yourself into.” He said “Just give her some time and she’ll come around.”

I nodded before realising something. “Have you finished analysing the EVPs?” I asked

“Nearly; just got the one of you and Aaron in the front room to go.” He replied.

“...can I have a quick listen? I just remembered something.”

“Sure, mind telling me what you remembered?”

“Not yet.”

He got off my bed and retrieved the last tape; I plugged in my own earphones and listened to the tape. I wasn’t listening for any spirits, I was listening for my own voice. I heard Aaron’s joke about Zak and the incubus followed by my response and then my comment about my legs feeling weird;

_“...My legs feel weird...”_

_“Are you for real?!”_

_“No Aaron I’m a bloody figment of your imagination – of course I’m being serious!”_

I shut my eyes, my temper had gotten the best of me alright. I felt somewhat guilty about yelling at him, he was simply asking me to confirm my experience and I practically bit his head off. Now I had the urge to go and apologise.

I gave the tape back to Nick without uttering a word, I then put my jacket on and exited the room. Despite not actually remembering where Zak and Aaron’s room was I found my way there like clockwork, I knocked on the door and a somewhat confused Zak answered.

“Why are you up? You should be resting your back.” He said, opening the door wider.

“I need to talk to Aaron.” I muttered brushing past him. The coffee drone was sat at a desk writing something down on a notepad, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, he turned around and was slightly surprised at my appearance.

“Something up?” Aaron asked.

“Um. I want to apologise for what I said last night...” I mumbled, aware that Zak was watching and listening intently.

“For what you said?” Aaron was obviously a little confused.

“When you asked about what I said....regarding the experience...” I said trying not to alert Zak in any way to what had happened.

“OH _that_ , don’t worry about it Luna.” He laughed. “I can imagine you were a little scared.”

Zak had since stormed out of the room and slammed the door. “Oh great, now I have to apologise to _him_.” I sighed.

“Huh?”

“Well he doesn’t exactly know does he? He’s probably feeling out of the loop, and we both know our leader hates that.”

“No, he just realised something...”

“What?”

Aaron turned away from me and brought up an EVP file, it was labelled; ‘ _Bishop’s Room, Zak and Nick’_ I was given a set of headphones and the audio clip was played.

_“So which one of us are you going to attack?”_ Zak’s voice rang through

_“....the girl..”_ A quick raspy voice replied. However it seemed that both Zak and Nick hadn’t heard it as they continued.

“ _Use our energy to communicate, there are two friends of ours downstairs, go and scare them._ ” Nick ordered.

“ _Oh I **will**...” _ the voice replied again.

The audio file stopped. Dozens of thoughts ran through my head at once, most of them centring on my ability to draw demonic activity to myself.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked after I had remained quiet for a few moments.

“Yes....perfectly fine thank-you...now I must find Zachary before I attract another spirit, please excuse me.” I replied in a sort of trance. Maybe Kate was right, maybe I should go to a church...

I left the room and proceeded to walk past my own room, I wasn’t sure what I was thinking or why I wasn’t going to find Zak. I just wanted to escape for a while, it also felt as if I was being led by someone...or something.

 Before I knew it I was outside the small hotel, surrounded by the summer air, it was a cool day and the birds chirped happily in the trees. I found myself walking around to the garden behind the hotel and sitting on a bench amongst the trees as a light breeze drifted through the area. My back was hurting and I wasn’t really dressed properly for going outside – I only had a loose fitting shirt on underneath my jacket and was wearing shorts, I ran my bare feet along the grass as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Something about this scene seemed familiar....

The trees whispered in the wind and songs of the birds resonated around me, each with their own unique pitch or note. I felt strangely tired as I lifted my legs onto the bench and lay back staring at the clear blue sky. The sun peeked through the fanned out leaves of the trees and warmed my face. I let my eyes close as the sounds of the countryside filtered through my thoughts.

**~Sometime later~**

I became aware of an eerie silence around me, I opened my eyes to see the clear blue sky had been replaced with diamond studded blackness. My first thought was ‘ _why was I out here?’_ I then remembered faintly what I had been doing last before I fell asleep. The only thing I was certain of was that Zak was somewhat annoyed for some reason but not how I ended up on a bench outside, I sat up and looked around. The hotel’s lights were on meaning that it was certainly past evening, I looked closer and saw the dining room lights were off – so it must be after supper.

“How long have I been out here?” I muttered out loud.

“... _a while_..” a voice replied.

I looked around frantically to see who was around, there was no-one, no-one at all. I brushed it off as my imagination. “Better get back to the guys, they’ll be climbing the walls otherwise.” I continued talking to myself.

“.. _They’re fine_...” the voice came again, it was soft and soothing, almost like a gentle friend’s voice.

“....is anyone there?” I called after pausing for a few moments, hoping that whoever was screwing with my head would just show themselves already.

“... _Luna, I’ve been here since Preston Castle_...”

It suddenly dawned on me who was speaking....it was Jay.


	10. A vivid dream

**A vivid dream**

I froze, half in terror and half in shock. I was hearing a voice, and they were talking only to me.

“Jay?” I mumbled “Is that you?”

“... _yes_...”

The hairs on my arms stood up, without a doubt there was a spirit with me, Jay was communicating, he was really communicating....

“Why has it taken you so long to speak up?” I asked.

“... _takes time...and energy_...”

“....did you lead me out here so you could speak to me?”

“.. _Yes_...”

Part of me still couldn’t believe what was happening, I was literally sat here talking to a spirit who had been somewhat protecting me. The same spirit who had protected me back in Preston Castle was here with me now. I led back down on the bench and stared at the darkening sky.

“You can influence my dreams right?”

“... _I can_...”

“Well, if it takes that much energy to talk to me like this then speak to me through my dreams.” I continued “It would be a nice change of pace from the nightmares.”

“ _Don’t want you....experience._..” His voice was fading; clearly wherever he was getting the energy from was drying up slowly.

“....I really ought to go back inside...Jay feel free to do anything to communicate...really...I mean it.” I finalised. He was still with me, just like he always has been – just in the background but has returned to his mute state. It saddened me slightly, yet I felt happy that he was starting to talk, maybe he’d let me do an EVP session once we got home...

**~Back in the hotel room~**

“And where exactly have you been?!” Zak snapped, turning the air blue. Nick and Aaron just looked at him as if he was crazy – which didn’t surprise me.

“Outside, duh.” I replied.

“For _six hours_?!”

“Well you apparently ate for four hours once.” I retaliated.

“That isn’t the point!”

“We both know that’s a lie Zachary.” I was beginning to get the hang of handling Zak; just be a smart arse until Nick found a way of distracting him, which normally didn’t take too long. Unfortunately for me Nick seemed to be out of distracting techniques, and also appeared to be taking Zak’s side in all of this.

“We were actually worried about you…you didn’t text any of us, leave any note whatsoever…” Nick explained.

I stared at the floor, why couldn’t they just let me get some fresh air without going overboard? Sheesh, we still don’t have an answer as to why Zak abandoned us in California and now _he_ has the nerve to lecture me on walking off?

I was literally seconds away from arguing back when a heard a quiet voice in my ear; “…. _he means well_ …”

Jay certainly knew what my temper was like, even out-predicting my actions as well. I took a deep breath and somewhat apologised for my carelessness before deciding to feed Ringo as they had completely forgotten about him it seemed.

Zak seemed satisfied with my apology and left to go back to his room with Aaron following close behind. Nick didn’t look as if he believed my story of just being ‘outside in the fresh air’ and decided to pursue it.

“So, what did you do for six hours this afternoon?” he asked sitting on the edge of my bed as I filled Ringo’s food bowl up.

“Well…I went outside and simply fell asleep…” I said. “I woke up six hours later ad it was dark.” I wasn’t technically lying, just leaving out Jay’s part, at least for now. I decided that if he made his way into my dreams tonight then I’d tell the guys what happened, if not then I wouldn’t.

“Fine, but seriously, we were worried, I mean after Zak came in and told me about your experience happening so quickly after our EVP session we wanted to find you and ask you about it. But when we went back to his room Aaron said you just left. We searched the entire hotel and were getting concerned…”

“Oh…I…I didn’t think...” I uttered, I literally didn’t think of how my trance-like state affected the rest of them, I had forgotten that they all treat me like a little sister…

“Just promise me you’ll at least leave a note or something next time, okay?”

“Yeah, I promise.” I said.

I got changed after persuading Nick to assist in applying some more of the weird gel to my back. It didn’t sting as much as last time but it still hurt a little, I then pulled the covers of my bed over my head ready for whatever Jay was going to throw at me. Ringo was asleep on the floor next to me and Nick was talking to his family on the phone out in the hallway.

My eyes closed and darkness surrounded me again, the images that flashed through my head were not what I was expecting; I was on the second floor of Preston Castle, but it wasn’t falling apart like it was in present day it seemed almost brand new. Young boys and men wandered from room to room dressed in uniforms, they all had an air of misery about them. I was obviously seeing things from Jay’s past I concluded as I walked down the corridor towards the staircase, passing various people along the way, they didn’t even raise their heads to look at me which must’ve meant that I was in Jay’s body too.

Next thing I knew I was on the fourth floor a few paces away from the room where I got attacked during my investigation back in January. The windows all had glass in them but were covered in mesh so that no-one could smash them, I entered the room where I first felt Jay’s presence and discovered that it was actually his room. Or cell, depending on how you interpreted it. There was another boy in there; he had short brown hair and a face of freckles, he greeted me as I entered;

“Alright Jay? Hear about the fight in the cafeteria?”

I nodded against my own will; I was simply a bystander in the events unfolding before me, with no way of changing anything. The boy laughed and started talking about other boys in the facility before leaving. The room started to distort before plunging into blackness, I couldn’t tell what was happening until a white light enveloped my thoughts. I was in a different room now, staring at the ceiling, a nurse was stood next to me holding a bucket. My body ached, more specifically my chest, I threw up blood. This wasn’t the first time as I glanced at the contents of the bucket – lots of blood.

“Don’t worry.” The nurse said “It’ll all be over soon.” She then left. What did she mean by that? Was I dying? What?

I looked around, I was in the infirmary, there was a vase of roses on my bedside table, across the room from me was another boy, he had bandages covering much of his head and they were all blood stained. Just looking at it made me feel sick, and sure enough I threw up again. The nurse sighed and walked over to me again, she had a kind face, yet years of nursing people had taken its toll on her. Her hair was black and she kept it in a ponytail, her eyes reminded me of someone…

“You won’t be in pain for much longer Jay…” she whispered as she cleaned up the blood on the sheets. “Not much longer, I promise.”

Once again the room distorted and I was in darkness again. I was no longer in Jay’s body when my surroundings became clear; I was outside, at the graveyard, a fresh plot had been dug and a small casket had been lowered into it. The housekeeper and the owner of the facility were standing beside it; a priest said some words of condolences before dirt was dropped on top of the casket. I managed to catch a glimpse of the headstone from where I was;

_Jay Heath,_

_Born: Oct. 20, 1897_

_Died; Dec. 11, 1913_

_Cause of Death; tuberculosis._

The all too familiar whiteness enveloped me once again. I was now aware that I had woken up purely by the fact it was only just getting light outside. Jay’s life had ended when he was 16, the same age as me, taken by an illness that claimed many lives across America...it made feel sad that he’d never get a chance to fulfil his dreams, whatever they were, even if he ended up in a place like Preston Castle he could’ve still made something of his life probably...

My head was spinning slightly as I sat up in the dimly lit room, Ringo was still sleeping on the floor next to my bed and there was light breathing coming from Nick’s bed, so he was obviously still asleep. I glanced at my phone, it was five am, too early to be doing anything but too late really to go back to sleep. It then occurred to me that we had all the digital recorders in the room, all empty of files ready for our next investigation – wherever that was taking place – and that maybe Jay’s voice could be caught on tape.

“..Jay?” I whispered trying not to wake either Nick or Ringo. The comforting presence became clearer again, which showed he was at least listening. “...would you like to hear your own voice?” I asked in a hushed tone.

I wasn’t sure how I got it but a few minutes later I was holding a digital recorder out in front of me and it was rolling. I didn’t say anything at first in case I spoke over him but after a while I got the feeling that he was a little nervous to say the least.

“Was the dream I had the story of your time at Preston Castle?” I asked quietly. I heard some kind of response but not enough to decipher it, I continued asked more questions; “Did you die of Tuberculosis?” If the answer was yes then it would lend clarity to my dream.

“.... _horrible...”_ I heard him whisper. He was sat in the edge of my bed near Ringo – who was still asleep thankfully – listening intently.

“It must’ve been like torture for you to feel your life slipping away...” I replied. “And you were buried in the graveyard at Preston Castle, meaning no-one claimed your body?”

“... _no...No-one..._ ”

“What did you get put into Preston Castle for? Why were you put there?”

“... _not...wanted...”_

I seriously hoped the digital recorder was picking all this up; it was heart-breaking for me to hear a boy who was the same age as me when he died tell me he wasn’t wanted. If he was alive and sat on the edge of my bed I would’ve hugged him and told him everything was going to be fine, however nearly one hundred years after his death was a little too late.

“I feel so sorry for you...” I mumbled. “I want you around, you’ve saved my life several times, don’t feel as if you’re not wanted.”

“.... _thank-you...tired...now...”_ his quiet whispers replied.

“I understand, thank-you for speaking to me.” I said shutting the recorder off. About half an hour had passed, I decided to save the file onto the laptop with the thermal clips on due to the fact I didn’t know where the other laptop was.

When I played the clip back I almost screamed with excitement as I heard Jay’s clear responses coming through the earphones. I couldn’t wait to show the guys, but something else came to my attention; to write down every little detail about the dream I had.

**~Sometime later~**

“How long have you been up?” Nick asked as he sat up in his bed.

“Since five. Had a weird dream. Need to talk to all three of you about it.” I bluntly replied, my pen not leaving my notepad, I had gotten dressed and then started drawing the boy with freckles who was in my dream.

“What?”

“I had a weird dream, I need to talk to all three of you about it, and so whenever you’re ready can we go to Zak’s room? I think he’ll be rather interested in this.” I expanded on my answer.

Nick looked slightly confused for a moment before agreeing to go and talk to Zak once he had taken a shower. I had to sit and wait for another quarter of an hour before any kind of action was taking place, it didn’t seem too long as Jay was keen to hear his voice as well as hear Zak’s reaction. Ringo was whining to be fed so I obliged and filled his food bowl up with biscuits.

Once Nick had finished his shower and had gotten dressed we proceeded to walk down the corridor to Zak and Aaron’s room. I had convinced him to bring the laptop as it was crucial to the explanation of the dream. To say that Zak wasn’t expecting us was an understatement; he was still asleep when Aaron let us into the room.

“Zak, Luna needs to talk to us.” Aaron said shaking the sleeping leader.

“Not now, tired.” He mumbled

“Zak it’s important.” I sighed

He sat up, it turns out he still sleeps topless as his tattoos were once again revealed. I felt my cheeks redden as I tried to hold my composure, Aaron wasn’t helping matters by laughing at me.

“What is it then?” Zak asked ignoring Aaron’s chuckling.

“Jay. He spoke to me through a dream.” I replied.

All three of them stared at me with curious looks on their faces. “How so?” Zak continued.

I told him what I had been shown by Jay as I slept, they were taking this seriously. Zak asked if I had written it down so I handed him the notepad with the entire dream written out – complete with the drawing of the boy with freckles.

“Wow...” Aaron said after reading my account through.

“I know, but there’s more – because I woke up at five am I decided to do an EVP session – I heard Jay’s responses both at the time and when I played back the audio.”

“Seriously?” They all asked at the exact same time.

I nodded and opened the laptop with the half an hour recording on it. By the time they had heard it all the way through twice Zak was now sat eagerly on the edge of his bed demanding to hear it again. I obliged and replayed it, I could sense Jay’s curiosity was mounting as he edged his way closer to the laptop, although he was being wary of the three guys as they got excited again over a response.

“I seriously cannot believe how clear and quick these responses are…” Nick remarked.

“I know, what time were you doing this?” Aaron asked

“About five am. I woke up from my dream but I couldn’t get back to sleep. Plus I don’t think Jay had heard his own voice until now.” I explained.

“Until _now_?” Zak repeated, “Is he here now?”

“Yes, yes he is. His presence is quite strong to me, he is curious about hearing his voice but at the same time wary of you three.”

“…can he speak to us?”

“I’ll see, give me a second.” I turned to the bathroom door where his presence felt the strongest. “Do you feel like you can?” I asked the space where I believed he was.

The three guys simply watched as I continued talking to thin air. “You don’t have to, but they’d really like it if you could, however I know it would require a lot of energy…so it’s your choice..”

The room went silent, Jay seemed to walk over to the three of them sat on Zak’s bed and just linger there for a while. Aaron started complaining of a draft to which I simply laughed as it was clearly Jay who was making him cold, Zak and Nick however looked at me with curiosity.

“So what’s he going to do?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know, it’s his choice.” I replied.

“.... _Zak…”_ a voice came from the bed.

“What the…did you hear that Nick?” Zak asked almost panicked.

“Yes.” His friend nodded.

“What the heck was that?”

“Zak, are you really that stupid? It was Jay.” I pointed out.

He seemed slightly unsettled by this until Jay’s voice came again; “… _I won’t hurt you…”_

“Well that’s good to know Jay…” Zak replied uncertainly. “How long exactly have you been speaking to Luna?”

“…. _Yesterday…”_

“But, she….wait a minute; is that why you took six hours yesterday Luna?” Nick asked.

“…yes, although I was asleep for most of it, I didn’t want to tell you until I had some solid evidence to show you.” I replied like I rehearsed it.

“Agh, you could’ve told us anyway!” Aaron said.

“The point is, we now have a load of ‘class A’ EVPs, as Zak would call them, thanks to Jay.” I said trying to change the conversation topic.

“This is a good point. Have you seen him yet, Jay I mean?” Nick asked.

“Not since Preston Castle, when I met him the first time. I want to take baby steps with him, I don’t want to push him too much.”

“… _Thank-you…”_ we heard from the bed again.

Zak seemed to have lost his thought pattern at first but soon regained it. “It’s just so weird hearing him reply so quickly…not many of the spirits that follow me wish to talk like that.”

“I know, he scared the crap out of me when he first spoke.” I replied, then something dawned on me; “Zak, where’s the next investigation?”

“Ah, was wondering when you’d ask. We’re going to Wales for a while.” He said coolly as if it was nothing. “Two castles and the oldest pub in Wales should do us fine.”

“Fun times.” Aaron remarked. “Then it’s off to Ireland!”

“Ireland…not to Leap Castle by any chance?” I asked, the last thing I wanted was to go there.

“How did you guess?” Zak exclaimed.

“Seems like your kind of place…” I muttered.

“What? I don’t get it.” Aaron asked a little confused.

“Don’t worry, it’s better you don’t know until we’re locked inside.” I replied.

“We’re jumping the gun a bit aren’t we? We’re going to a castle in South Wales first.” Zak said trying to wipe the concern off Aaron’s face. “It’s going to be a blast.”


	11. A family matter

**A family matter**

We were about to leave for our next location; Caerphilly Castle when Zak got a phone call from its owners, apparently they had double booked and a wedding reception was taking place on the night we were due to investigate, thankfully Zak had a back-up plan, however he was determined to keep it a ‘surprise’, which slightly unnerved me as the last time he had a surprise I ended up being thrown in the ocean.

“Know any Welsh songs?” Aaron asked as we sped along the Severn bridge that would take us into the Welsh countryside. There had been a small moment of shock as Zak failed to take into account that it was a toll bridge, only by pure luck (and Nick having some spare change) were we able to pass at the expense of five pounds.

“Only the national anthem.” I replied.

“Care to share?”

“Not really, remember what happened last time we started singing as Zak was driving.”

The memory of the city lights of LA filled my mind, as did the memory of Zak’s irritated comments about his dwindling sanity. I looked out the window as we drew closer to the shore, the sky was clear and the sun glared down at us from the sky, it seemed that the typical British summer weather had abandoned us for now. However as we travelled north we would probably end up caught in a downpour at some point…that will be fun…not.

As the bridge ended and we were surrounded by signs written in both English and Welsh, Zak and Nick were both trying to decipher the directions they got off the internet – which was quite comical to see as they were getting confused with all the Welsh street names.

“Agh have they never heard of vowels?!” Zak exclaimed

“Yeah, the national anthem is full of them.” I smugly replied. “Why, are we lost?”

“Of course not!” he snapped “Just…confused, half the roads are in Welsh.”

“Well duh! We _are_ in Wales Zak…” Nick commented. “Pull over and look at the map for God’s sake.”

Like a little boy who had been told to put his favourite toy away, Zak pulled over in a lay-by and took the map from the glove compartment of the van. We were meant to be heading to a town called Newport apparently, somehow we had ended up in a place called Caldicot instead.

“We were meant to still be on the motorway.” I told them after reading over Zak’s shoulder. “The M4 would’ve taken us straight into Newport.”

“I can see that now.” Zak replied thoughtfully. “I think if we go along this road…turn around and come back we’ll be fine.”

**~Half an hour later~**

We finally got into Newport after nearly ending up going back over the bridge. It’s not that I’m trying to insult Zak’s navigational skills but they do seem a little lacking – maybe it’s just that he’s lost his bearings as he’s in a different continent. Aaron now had the map and was proceeding to instruct Zak on where to drive, Nick retreated to the back seat with me whilst Ringo just seemed to sleep for the entire journey, completely unfazed by the drastic movements of the van.

“This can’t be right.” Zak sighed as the road snaked through the hills. “We should be on a flat road.”

“Just keep going Zak, trust me.” Aaron replied.

“But there’s no way this can lead to where we’re meant to be going!” our spikey-haired leader exclaimed. “We’re going into the bloody mountains!”

“Zak, the terrain in this country is very unpredictable. I can guarantee that even though this road seems to continue going up a hill and into the mountains, it _will_ lead to flat land….eventually…” I interjected.

Zak grumbled something inaudible but whatever he said was flatly ignored as no sooner had we driven over the top of hill then we saw the road sloping down towards a town. No-one said anything, it was almost as if we could sense Zak’s irritation at being proven wrong, he soon lightened up though as the town sailed by. I was still none the wiser about where we were even going for our next investigation.

“Where are we _actually_ going?” I asked Nick as Zak violently swore about a tractor in front of us on the road.

“A manor house that no-one can pronounce the name of.” Nick replied.

“…what’s its name?” I asked smirking.

“OH you _would_ wouldn’t you?” he joked. “It’s something like...lancach…four manor?”

I knew where he was talking about; Llancaiach Fawr Manor. It humoured me that they thought _that_ was hard to pronounce, they’d obviously not heard of Llanfair PG’s full name; 58 letters in length and only having 13 vowels – _that_ is hard to pronounce.

“I see. I can’t pronounce it either, but there are much worse names.” I commented.

“Oi you better not be telling her about our next location Nick!” Zak barked from the front as the tractor finally got out of the way.

“Not really. Just its name.” Nick replied.

“Good.”

The van fell into silence, Aaron managed to direct Zak the rest of the way to our destination. We pulled up on a country lane in dire need of resurfacing outside a grey stone building, judging by the positioning of the windows it had three floors at least. As we got out of the van a woman came out of the front doorway of the house dressed in 16th century clothing typical of a servant in the past.

“Hello good sir.” She said curtsying in front of Zak.

“Uh…hey.” Zak replied looking to the rest of us for some kind of help.

“I understand you are here to speak of the spirits which roam my master’s home.” She continued “Please follow me into the manor.”

With no other ideas of what to do Nick and Aaron quickly set up the two walkthrough cameras whilst Zak tried to ascertain who the so called ‘master’ was and who the heck this woman was. Ringo had woken up and was eager to get going – he could probably sense something about this place, meanwhile I tried ‘searching’ for Jay but something about this place was making it harder than normal to find him.

Eventually we were ready to start our walkthrough much earlier than we had planned too, an entire day earlier in fact. The woman introduced herself as Miss Roberts – head housekeeper. She didn’t look old enough in my opinion, I had the stereotypical image of an elderly lady with thinning grey hair and an aging face being the head housekeeper, not the woman who was being introduced to the rest of us with long thick brown hair and a young yet stern face.

“Please follow me and I will tell you all you want to know.” She spoke barely above a whisper and walked almost silently through the wooden floors of the manor house. Through the twists and turns of the fully restored house we heard about the history of the grounds.

“This place was built by my master, Colonel Prichard for his family. The site it is built on predates the union of England and Wales, the actual house was built in the 16th century and has withstood the test of time.” She explained as we walked slowly throughout stone floored corridors and carefully restored rooms. There were many paintings hanging on the walls, they looked valuable and also slightly creepy, as if the eyes of the people in them followed you everywhere.

We were now in the kitchen, it had been restored to every fine detail of the age of the house; slate paved flooring, a carved out fireplace for cooking, wooden tables lined with cooking pots and jars of all sizes. There was food on one of the tables however I was not sure whether it was real or not so I resisted the urge to pick out an apple, god I was hungry and I wasn’t sure why. My thoughts were snapped back to the woman telling Zak about something about the walls.

“These walls are 1.2 metres thick exactly.” She said. “Built to withstand attack from rivals.”

“Rivals?” Zak asked.

“Yes, my master has had various encounters with the Lewis family that have ended in bitter rivalry.”

All three guys looked at me. I knew why too, my last name is Lewis. I didn’t react though, I simply continued looking around the kitchen at the intricate details of the room.

“What did they do?” Nick asked after a few moments of silence.

The woman looked uncomfortable for a few moments and played with the edge of her apron before beckoning us all closer. “Well they never liked each other in the first place – but it got worse after William Lewis apparently abducted a Prichard daughter.” She whispered. “I can’t say anymore than that.”

So my ancestors had apparently pissed someone off. That didn’t surprise me, I knew my temper came from the Welsh side of my family and so did most other people. I just blinked, taking in the information, this could be dangerous, I was practically in an enemy’s house. _Fun._

“So…what about paranormal activity?” Zak asked clearing the air. “That’s what we came for afterall.”

“Of course. Follow me upstairs.” Miss Roberts replied as she led us to a grand staircase and stopped halfway up to the first floor. “We have had visitors who tell us that there are small children who regularly play on this staircase and landings. In fact I have seen them a few times.”

“What do they look like?” Nick asked

“They are mostly dressed in their nightclothes, both boys and girls. They run around the building laughing, playing, whispering and the like. Sometimes they’ll follow you around as well.” She recounted.

As we continued going through the house I kept getting this unsettling feeling of being watched, Ringo seemed unaffected as usual so I once again put it down to paranoia. The last room we came to was a bedroom which apparently was one of the most active spots of the house; known as ‘Mattie’ or Martha’s room.

“What happens here then?” Zak asked once we were inside the room. There was a large bed with snow white drapes and covers on it, a dressing table stood by the only window in the room, a vase of pink flowers sat on the windowsill – they appeared to be fresh.

“This is Mattie’s room, it’s the saddest part of the house. She was a housekeeper and died in this room, people often talk of a ‘crushing sadness’ whilst in this room. Even the most hardened of police officers and rugby players have experienced this sensation.”

“Anyone know how she died?”  Nick asked

“No, some say possibly in a fire others have even declared that poisoning could be it. No-one knows for sure though.”

We all looked at each other, no-one made any kind of comment so that was our walkthrough over. Aaron and Nick went back to the van to collect the equipment whilst Zak, Ringo and I explored the house some more. I hadn’t said a word since Miss Roberts told us about the Lewis family’s involvement with the manor and it had caught Zak’s attention no doubt.

“You’ve been awfully quiet today, in fact I don’t think you’ve said _anything_ since we started our walkthrough.” He said.

“Well…there’s not really anything to say…” I replied watching Ringo sniffing the floorboards as we walked the hallways.

“How about how you feel?” Zak suggested.

“…Nothing new really.” I lied. I do that a lot – lying, maybe I just don’t want to seem weak to them even though they all know I’m just a normal person like they are.

“I don’t buy that for one second Luna.” Zak scoffed.

“Oh come off it Zak. I don’t feel any different to when we walked in.” _Aside from the feeling of being watched._

“You were told not half an hour ago that someone who shared your last name possibly abducted a child. You have to feel **something**.”

“Fine.” I gave in, he’d only find out later anyway. “I keep feeling that I’m being watched.” I folded my arms across my chest, letting go of Ringo’s leash in the process, he took off down the corridor immediately.

“Oh great….” Zak sighed before taking off at a jog after him. I just stood alone in the corridor, I was on the first floor a few doors down from Mattie’s room. Curiosity was getting the better off me when I noticed the door was open slightly. I listened for the tell-tell footsteps of one of the guys, once I heard nothing I entered the room.

The sun was setting over the hills and bathing the room in a harsh orange light. I blinked a few times before my eyes focused again, the room didn’t feel any different to earlier, in fact it felt almost the same except that I felt a strange urge to walk up and look in the mirror. When I eventually gave into the urge I saw my reflection staring back at me; the thin-faced teenager that I still was with my blue highlights striking out of my black hair, the bags under my eyes were receding which I can only assume was Jay’s doing and I had fewer spots.

I then noticed that behind my reflection was a weird mist, I looked behind at the now closed door and saw nothing. When I glanced back at the mirror the mist was gone but the previously clam atmosphere had been replaced by a sickening feeling in my stomach.

_Nerves? No, lack of food? Maybe… fear?_

I wasn’t sure but I quickly exited the room to find the guys. Why was it always me who experienced the crazy shit right before we get locked in? This reminded me to ask Zak something when I eventually find him in the maze of hallways within the manor – these guys certainly like finding buildings which like mimicking mazes.

Aaron was actually the first one I found, turns out he was looking for me whilst Zak was ranting about Ringo’s limitless energy once again. _Some things never change…_

**~*~**

“Right, so are we ready?” Zak asked us. We were at the front door of the manor and were about to be locked in, now seemed like a good a time as any.

“Zak, you say we’re locked in from dusk until dawn….but why have we left our last few investigations in the really early hours of the morning?” I asked. This had been bugging me for a while now.

“Well let me think; somebody keeps getting herself attacked in some way by spirits.” He replied nudging me. “I can’t in good conscience make you stay in a building with those kind of spirits for longer than necessary. Any more questions?”

“Why? And since when have _you_ had a good conscience that you actually listen to?” I joked.

“That’s a question no-one will know the answer to…” Nick chimed in.

“Yes okay, are we ready? Or do you have more questions that need to be answered this instant?” Zak sighed.

“No I’m good. Go ahead O’ mighty Zachary.” I replied, I couldn’t hold back a small laugh at the ‘O mighty Zachary’ comment and neither could Nick. We were all surprisingly laid back for this investigation…maybe because there aren’t any demonic spirits for once…who knows? I certainly don’t, I’m always the last to know anything.


	12. The start of something bigger

**The start of something bigger**

The door creaked loudly as it was shut and locked; sealing us inside the manor house. Candles remained lit as we still had to set up base and compose ourselves before investigating, Zak led us to one of the disused store rooms which was when we came across a problem; this building didn’t have electricity.

“Damn it.” Zak muttered when he realised that our normal way of investigating would disrupted because of this.

“Surely you would’ve thought that a 16th century house wouldn’t have electricity…” I commented, shifting the only rolling camera from one hand to the other.

“I did.” He replied. “I just thought we be able to run an extension cable from a neighbouring house or something.”

“Well you clearly didn’t think this one though did you?”

“It was only a back-up plan. It’s not my fault Caerphilly castle was double-booked.” He said defensively.

Nick meanwhile had been shifting boxes and crates of equipment around the room to get a better idea of what kind of tools we had for investigating, he had unpacked the video goggles and the digital recorders whilst Aaron was testing the EMF detectors worked.

“I always had you as a person who deeply researched every single one of your locations.” I commented.

“I told you – this was only a back-up plan!” Zak snapped.

“Hey guys, we don’t necessarily _need_ a base…” Nick said trying to keep the peace. “I mean, the only thing we use it for is backing-up tapes in emergencies – which hardly happens anyway.”

We stood in silence. Ringo had been wandering around the room freely and didn’t seem to notice the awkward atmosphere now in the room. Aaron went back to testing the equipment whilst Zak and I had what almost was a staring contest – only there wasn’t much enjoyment to it.

“So…how about we scope out where we’re putting the x-cameras then?” Nick sighed “Considering _somebody_ forgot to take notes again.” He looked directly at Zak at the emphasis on ‘somebody’.

“Yeah. Fine.” Zak muttered before exiting the room quickly with Nick following him with the x-cameras.

“Great. I upset him again didn’t I?” I complained.

“Yeah. You ought to stop doing that.” Aaron replied looking up from the little white boxes he was fiddling with.

“I can’t help it. I just get annoyed when people aren’t organised.” I sighed sitting on the floor.

“Well he does take it to heart a little too much sometimes, but you _do_ put him down a lot too.”

I rubbed my forehead, my mind was not organised at all, between the frequent dreams from Jay, the confusion of different locations and now Zak’s sulks I was getting emotionally tired of this. Aaron finished whatever he was doing and sat next to me on the floor with his personal camera facing us.

“Hey guys! Aaron’s vlog here in some welsh manor house that no-one can pronounce the name of!” he said overexcitedly. “Zak and Nick are setting up x-cameras around the house whilst Luna and I are just chillin’ with the paranormal puppy here.”

“You mean Ringo don’t you?” I asked. This was the first I had heard of a ‘paranormal puppy’.

“Yeah of course! Unless you know of any dog spirits wandering these parts?”

“I could recite several Welsh mining legends of dogs to you but I’m not in the mood...” I mumbled coaxing Ringo over from one of the cases we’d brought.

“Well guys we’re having a blast in Wales aren’t we?” Aaron said turning back towards his camera.

“If you call getting lost and then me and Zak having a minor disagreement fun then yes we are.”

“Zak can’t read a map. We’ve gotten lost at least twice and it’s been quite funny.”

“For any people who don’t know – the road signs here are both in English and Welsh so Zak’s been getting confused.” I told the camera. Ringo took this moment to jump onto Aaron and cause him to nearly drop the camera.

“Agh I’m being attacked!” Aaron’ laughed pointing the camera at Ringo’s little furry head.

“Ringo!” I called. The puppy bounded around Aaron’s outstretched feet and into my arms. “You know if those two walk back in and see us goofing off then I can guarantee that Zak may lose it once and for all.”

“I suppose I better get back to prepping the equipment then.” Aaron acknowledged and got off the floor.

**~*~**

“So are we ready then?” Nick asked, all the candles had been blown out as him and Zak went around the manor placing x-cameras and movement sensors, the only one left was the one in the storeroom we were currently in. Zak was in a slightly better mood than before but still seemed a little bit annoyed – hopefully that would soon be forgotten.

“There are x-cameras in the following rooms; Mattie’s room where there is the most activity reported, there are two covering the grand staircase in the hallway where there have been sightings of children, there is one in the kitchen where Mattie is said to cook, another in one of the child’s bedrooms where one of the cots is said to rock by itself.” Zak listed of both for our benefit and the now recording cameras being held by Nick and myself. “There are motion sensors in every hallway to pick up _any movement_ whatsoever, and also on the staircase for the same reason.”

“Basically this entire manor is covered.” Aaron concluded.

Something came into my thoughts, I wasn’t even sure why or where I had obtained the information – I could only assume Jay was up to something again – but either way it bugged me so I decided to tell Zak sooner rather than later….

“Um…I just thought of something…I guess…I don’t remember reading it or anything but do you guys know about a pentangle being found in one of the walls?” I asked

Nick and Zak looked at each other before looking at me in puzzlement. “What do you mean you ‘thought’ of it?” Zak asked.

“I don’t know…it just kinda sprang into my mind…” I muttered.

Nick went up to Zak and whispered something in his ear; the leader nodded and muttered something back before looking at Aaron. “Dude, make sure nothing happens to her okay?”

“What?” Aaron questioned, I too was confused as heck.

“If you are sure you didn’t think of it until now then perhaps something or someone is trying to tell you something.” He said to me “I advise you to ask Jay if he put that information inside of you or not before we even think about continuing.”

I nodded and turned to the corner of the room, just so that I didn’t have to see their expressions whilst I communicated. “Jay…are you trying to warn us?” I asked the space in front of me, I was concerned that I couldn’t sense him but my paranoia was eased once felt a response; the image of a half broken down wall showing a pentagon carved into the stone behind it flashed through my mind before I heard a voice,

“ _…yes, be very careful…_ ”

I nodded again and told the guys what I had ‘seen’ and heard. “It’s basically a warning from Jay. I don’t know what or who was the reasoning behind it being carved but it was found in this building.”

“Okay, you’re sticking with me tonight when we split up – Nick, you go with Aaron when we do so, got it?” Zak replied.

We all nodded at that. The last candles were blown out and we were plunged into darkness once more, completely defenceless in a house where souls of the dead roam freely…I was strangely beginning to like it. Then again I had an LCD screen to look into whereas Zak and Aaron were almost blind.

Our leader led us into the hallway with the grand staircase, Aaron brought out the EMF detector and stood at the bottom of the staircase whilst Zak sat on one of the steps with Ringo far enough away from the motion sensor so they didn’t trigger it. Nick and I stood a little off to them and filmed

“Hey are there any children in this room with us?” Zak asked stroking Ringo. “Do you like puppies? ‘Cause we have one here who’d love to play with you.”

I didn’t really want Ringo directly being used to connect with spirits but they _were_ children after all so we didn’t have many other options.

“He won’t bite if you stroke him behind the ears like I’m doing.” Zak continued. “You can stroke him if you’re gentle.” We waited in silence, Ringo didn’t seem to react to anything so Zak tried a different tactic. “Our friend Aaron is at the bottom of the staircase – why don’t you play a prank on him? He loves it when that happens.”

Aaron just shook his head and laughed silently whilst taking a base reading off the EMF meter. The room, and the house, was quiet, no noise came from anywhere except our light breathing and Ringo’s panting. Suddenly Nick heard something;

“Guys I think one of the motion sensors is going off.” He said turning around and looking down one of the corridors.

“Which one? There are at least ten out.” Zak asked keeping his voice steady.

_When did they bring TEN motion sensors with them?_ I thought as Nick stood in the doorway listening intently.

“I don’t know, this house echoes like crazy.” He replied.

“Okay, split up and find them, Luna take Ringo with you.” Zak instructed. “Aaron use your personal camera to record your search, I’ll use the spare I have with me.”

“Try not to set any others off, they’re a blinking green light on the floor, we’ve placed them against the walls so walk on the far side of the rooms from them.” Nick told us. “As for the hallway ones, ran and jump over them.”

“Are you being serious?” I asked. _Run and jump? Is this paranormal investigating or the Long Jump event?_

“Yes, now let’s go, whatever triggered it has probably moved. If anything goes wrong just yell, the house isn’t that big so someone else will hear you.” Zak said handing me Ringo’s leash and departing through a doorway leading towards the kitchen. Aaron disappeared through the door leading to the servants’ quarters whilst Nick went down the corridor he had been standing by – leaving the entire first floor for me.

“Oh boy, come on Ringo let’s find out what the heck is going on this time.” I sighed as I precariously picked my way up the stairs. I saw the motion sensor and edged my way around it with Ringo hot on my heels, almost as if he knew what to do to avoid it too. The landing split off to two separate corridors, I could hear a distant alarm from down the left one but it also looked the darkest.

_Now is not the time to be a chicken…_ My thoughts screamed at me, thankfully Ringo decided we are going down the left corridor and started tugging my reluctant body into the darkness.

The LCD screen gave me some idea of what was ahead of me, well it would’ve if my hand wasn’t shaking so much. I don’t know why I thought it was terrifying, I’d been in more dangerous places in the darkness we all know, maybe it was because I was alone…isolated from the guys who knew what to do if they came across something.

“Jay….help…” I whispered as the alarm got louder, either the corridor had uneven flooring or I was beginning to hallucinate for some reason as I felt sick to the pit of my stomach and I thought I kept seeing shadows dart past me.

Ringo stopped and stared at the air in front of us, I stopped too, my legs shaking and threatening to quit working altogether. The alarm was louder than I’d ever heard it, granted that was not many times. I managed to hold my ground and stop myself screaming from fright and urged Ringo to walk forward. The air we walked into was several degrees colder than the rest of the house, I saw the white box that was the motion sensor through the LCD screen of the camera, it was blaring loudly and flashing wildly, I reached down and reset it before backing away.

“…who tripped this sensor?” I asked. There was no response. “It does you no harm, all it does – as you heard – was make an extremely loud noise…”

Ringo started growling, I begged myself to not turn around and assume he was being paranoid but I knew I had to otherwise Zak wouldn’t be too happy with me. I moved the camera around first to see if it was something completely normal, nothing scary in other words, before willing my eyes to follow the camera. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw nothing through the screen.

I was just about relaxed again when the sensor – not even two feet away from me – was set off again. I looked for Ringo and discovered he was further away from it than I was, neither of us had moved…so why was the alarm ringing throughout the house again?

“Jay…please…make it stop...” I begged my spiritual guardian, hoping he would do _something_ to help.

Nope, instead another sensor down the corridor was set off. Now I had two alarms going off near me, I almost ran for it, wanting to let one of the guys deal with it – whatever ‘it’ was.

“Luna?” I heard Zak’s voice from somewhere, I couldn’t tell right from left anymore, all I could tell was that there was a lot of noise. “Luna!”

He came running up to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, next thing I knew I had been pushed back against the wall and the alarms had both stopped. Nick and Aaron had appeared from their searches and we asking lots of questions.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked.

“Did you see anything?” Nick asked.

I wasn’t sure what was going on, there was a ringing in my ears and it was making it hard to hear anything. Zak had taken the camera from me and was reviewing the footage. I sank to the floor, relieved I had company now and wasn’t isolated.

“Are you alright to continue?” Zak asked, ushering Nick and Aaron to stop questioning me.

I nodded, if I was going to let that stop me then they had another thing coming, it was just a small hiccup on my part…nothing serious…hopefully. It was now that Zak decided to split up into pairs, Nick and Aaron were sent downstairs somewhere whilst Ringo, Zak and I departed for Mattie’s room, where it was hoped that things would calm down, but knowing me and my habit of contacting unwanted spirits; things will only get more active. 


	13. Damn you Sod's Law!

**Damn you Sod's Law!**

We entered Mattie’s room, in the daylight it seemed warm and inviting, in the darkness however it seemed lonesome and cold. Zak directed me to sit on the bed whilst he paced up and down the length of the room, Ringo decided to sleep on the floor by the door which was an attractive idea...

“Mattie are you here with us?” Zak asked. I had no idea what his approach would be to this investigation but I guessed he wouldn’t be provoking many spirits; then again it was Zak so it was anyone’s guess what he’d be doing.

We heard no response, the room was stuffy due to the abnormally warm weather – more precisely the humidity. I wasn’t feeling any of this ‘crushing sadness’ that was reported, but the night was young and most of the events happen of their own accord, I think someone should inform Zak of this.

“We don’t mean you any harm or disrespect Mattie; we just wish to talk to you.” Zak continued. I was apparently meant to be filming but I just put the camera on the bedside table recording whatever was in front of it, this unfortunately caused me to be practically blind in the dark.

The room was beginning to feel slightly strange, I wasn’t sure what it was about it but the atmosphere was changing and I didn’t like it one bit. Ringo had woken up and decided to start following Zak’s pacing; which whilst funny at first got annoying when he wanted to chew Zak’s shoe.

“Luna get him off me!” he hissed.

I sighed and grabbled around the darkness, eventually I found Ringo’s collar and dragged him away from Zak. The squirming puppy was having none of it, he obviously liked Zak’s shoes dearly and wanted to smother them with kisses and bite marks...or maybe I was being overdramatic, I had to muffle my laughter from Zak as it would be a little weird explaining that my puppy was now infatuated with his shoes.

“Please communicate with us Mattie, my friend Luna was caught off-guard a while ago in the hallway, do you know anything about that?” Zak asked the ever-foreboding darkness, I picked up the camera incase something interesting happened.

The room didn’t reply, Zak looked slightly put out though the LCD screen, I scanned the room through the eerie green tint that is the night vision setting.

“Luna why don’t you try?” he asked sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah okay..” I replied unsurely. I now had to think of something to say that would hopefully get a response. “Mattie, we’d really appreciate it if you talk to us, we want to hear your voice.”

The room remained silent. Ringo was now sat on the bed next to Zak, peering around in the darkness and appearing to sense nothing abnormal. I too couldn’t feel anything strange, only Jay’s quiet presence outside the door where I had subconsciously told him to stay so he didn’t accidently interfere with anything.

“Mattie...” I sighed. “We don’t want to insult you...we just want to hear you and feel you...” It was becoming increasingly hard to stay focused when nothing was happening.

“Luna, could you try and get Jay to talk to her?” Zak asked. He caught me off guard, I never really considered using Jay to help us.

“Yeah...I could try..” I replied. All this communicating was making me feel as if maybe I was eventually going to become a medium. Either way I closed my eyes and focused on Jay’s spirit, willing him to enter the room and help us.

“ _...you called?”_ a small voice taunted in my ear. Great, he was a cocky teenager alright.

“Jay could you try and get Mattie to talk to us?” I asked, I could imagine him standing in the room with his arms folded and a giant smirk on his face.

“ _..possibly, I’ll see what I can do..”_

I had no idea where he was getting the energy to talk so fluently to us, nor if his voice would end up on the digital recorder, I guess we’d find out during the analysis. Ringo’s ears pricked up suddenly and he started shaking slightly, both Zak and I noticed this and started giving him reassuring strokes. Our hands brushed against each other’s a few times but I didn’t let that destroy my concentration.. _yet.._

The room temperature dropped slightly, though it was hardly noticeable at first. I scanned the room once more with the camera and there was nothing even remotely paranormal showing up. Jay’s voice came through the silence once again;

“ _...she doesn’t wish to talk, not to you two anyway...”_

I relayed the message to Zak who was a little annoyed but disguised his voice in an attempt to prevent it being obvious; “Why don’t you want to talk to us Mattie?”

Silence returned, Jay and Ringo both seemed to be centring their attention on the dressing table by the window. I turned the camera towards it and surprise, surprise it froze. “Zak the camera’s frozen...” I hissed, tapping the LCD screen. I glanced up at the dressing table I swear on my life (as short as it has been) that there was _something_ floating in midair in front of it.

“What...the hell?” Zak whispered crawling forward on the bed so his head was level with mine. “Do...you see that?”

“Yes...” I replied, “the camera’s frozen though...”

“Give it here.” He said in a hushed tone, our eyes never leaving the sight in front of us. Ringo was sat very still, almost like a statue beside us, I could sense Jay stood by the door so whatever we were all seeing was certainly not him. After handing Zak the camera I realised my hands were trembling, in fact my entire body was trembling however I wasn’t scared as such instead it was down to adrenaline surging through my veins.

“Mattie is that you?” I uttered trying to hold my voice steady.

The room temperature dropped further, Zak muttered to himself as he tried to get the camera working properly again. I remained focused on the floating mass in front of me. There was no audible response to my question, I decided to call on Jay again for help;

“Jay can you get a response out of her for me?” I whispered knowing he’d hear me however loud I spoke.

“ _...I’ll try..._ ”

Zak nudged me and handed the camera back to me, I rose it up and focused it on the dressing table, unfortunately the LCD screen didn’t appear to be picking up the mass that all three of us could see. Almost as soon as the camera was focused on it, the mass dissipated, much to Zak’s annoyance. The atmosphere in the room then changed drastically.

It reminded me of the DuVade mansion investigation, the feeling I felt when I picked up on the spirit of the daughters who got raped, it was a very similar feeling; one of complete sadness, hopelessness and dread. So this was what the ‘crushing sadness’ felt like.

“Mattie are you causing us to feel this way?” Zak asked quietly.

There was no response and the feeling in the room remained unchanged.

“Mattie please speak to us or show us you’re here...” He sighed. Both of us were getting tired of this, I almost suggested that we move on to a different room when we finally got a response;

“ _...go away....”_ a raspy voice emerged from the darkness surrounding us and it didn’t sound like Jay in the slightest.

“....what was that? You want us to leave?” I asked as Zak just sat there in silence.

“... _get out..._ ” it said. Pretty clear what the voice was saying. Zak however was less lenient;

“Who are you? And why do you want us to leave?”

Ringo started growling now, despite my best efforts to calm him down he became agitated and wouldn’t remain still. He jumped off the bed and started barking at the air in front of the door. I couldn’t make head or tail of what was going on, all I knew was that Jay wasn’t in the room anymore...

“Do you not like us being in your room?” Zak continued

I didn’t like the feel in this room anymore, it was more than sadness now; it was uncomfortable and the temperature as dropping further. I was shaking with adrenaline and coldness, Ringo was quiet again but still standing and staring at the door.

“Come on, show yourself properly and we’ll leave.” Zak demanded getting off the bed and pacing the room once more.

I didn’t think it could get any colder but it did. My fingers were going numb with the cold now and causing the camera I was holding to shake slightly. Through the LCD screen I could see Zak too was shaking slightly but I could also see his breath, it was then I knew the temperature must be below ten degrees.

“Zak...I’m fucking freezing...” I muttered.

“Try and hold on a little longer Luna.” He replied “Who is making the temperature drop?” he asked the darkness.

I silently wished that nothing would respond, I wanted to get out of this room or at least find a jacket. Zak had a different idea though;

“Whoever you are, touch one of us, that’s the only way we’re leaving this room.”

_Oh great knowing my luck I’ll get attacked._

We waited, and waited, and waited some more, eventually the room’s temperature seemed to return to normal. Although Ringo was still on edge and I wasn’t entirely at ease yet. Zak had almost given up on the spirit who was with us and was about to conclude our nearly 45-minute long EVP session.

“Well you’re obviously are too chicken to show yourself to us.” He sighed as he walked around the room one final time. “Let’s get out of here Luna.”

I got up from the bed and followed Zak as he exited the room and stood in the hallway, Ringo followed us closely as we made our way back towards the staircase. As we got closer to the staircase we heard footsteps following us, we stopped several times and listened intently but we couldn’t pinpoint where they were coming from exactly or who was making them.

“Is someone following us?” I asked as Zak now had the camera.

_Silence, how I am used to you now._

“I swear I hear footsteps following us...do you hear them?” I asked Zak.

“Yeah, what does Jay think?”

“He’s gone ahead, scoping out the area at my request.” I replied, I didn’t want to walk into anything or anyone so I sent him ahead to try and find anything trying to scare the living crap out of us.

“Okay, well let’s just find Nick and Aaron then.” Zak concluded.

We continued along the hallway and reached the top of the staircase, the motion sensor sat blinking halfway down the steps showing us that it was on still. As soon as I stepped down onto the first step we heard an alarm from down the other hallway leading to the staircase on the first floor.

“What the hell...?” Zak uttered before pulling me back up to the landing. “Come on, I want to find out what this is.”

I sighed quietly but agreed to go down the corridor which scared the crap out of me earlier. Ringo started down it first followed by myself then Zak. I subconsciously called out for Jay to come back to me so we could say he wasn’t setting it off.

The alarm grew louder and I couldn’t see anything, I could tell Ringo was only a few paces in front of me and that Zak was almost directly behind me but other than that I didn’t know where I was, something told me I was close to where I was scared earlier.

“Who tripped the alarm?” Zak’s voice boomed from behind me and making me jump out of my skin.

“Holy freaking hell you scared me.” I sighed.

“Sorry.” He replied.

We got to the offending motion sensor and reset it, before standing in the hallway; waiting for an answer. Ringo was sniffing the wooden flooring around our feet and wasn’t particularly concerned about his surroundings like we were, Zak seemed tired and unwilling to spend ages stood here so after a few minutes of nothing but our questions getting no answers we departed the area to find Nick and Aaron.

Once we had all met up with the other two guys we quickly exchanged stories of activity we had experienced before I got told to go investigate the basement, where they found the pentagon, with Aaron, Ringo was going with Zak and Nick to the upper rooms where children spirits are said to wander.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t make any inappropriate jokes this time Aaron.” I said as we walked around the ground floor looking for the basement door.

“But it was so funny last time.” He replied.

“Yeah of course it was...” I said doubtfully. “Where is the basement door?”

“I have no idea, Nick just said it was in this part of the building.” Aaron replied.

We heard a thud from one of the rooms near us in the hallway, after following the source of the thud we found an old wooden door. As I reached for the handle the door shook violently causing both me and Aaron to jump back in surprise, we stood there for a moment in silence, I looked in his general direction with what was probably a look of utter terror.

“...you wanna go down first?” he asked

“...sure...” I whispered reaching for the handle again. My hand shook with nerves as I pulled the handle down and pulled the door open; a staircase sunk down into a pit of deeper darkness.

“...looks creepy..” Aaron commented.

“So glad you can see it, I can’t.”

“Use your flashlight then.” He replied. “Unless you want the camera.”

“No it’s fine, I’ll use the flashlight.” I said reaching into the pocket of my jeans and bringing out the small black cylinder that was my flashlight. The bright white light blinded me as my eyes adjusted to it, I started down the steps to the creepy basement with Aaron following behind.  “don’t you dare close that door.” I muttered as he reached for the handle.

“Why?”

“Because if we’re running for our lives I don’t want to discover that the door has mysteriously locked itself.” I rambled reaching the bottom of the staircase. Maybe I was just being paranoid about the whole running for our lives, but one can never be too sure in this environment.

Once we were both in the basement, a large room filled with shelves and boxes, I turned the flashlight off and plunged us both into darkness again. We had no idea if there were any spirits attached to this room but if there weren’t then we may have lucked out this time.

“So...where did they find this pentagonal thing?” Aaron asked

“In one of the walls, no-one knows when or why it was carved in there but it was and that’s that.” I replied.

“If there is anyone here who knows why it was carved feel free to speak with us.” Aaron called out whilst starting the recording on the digital recorder.

The room didn’t have much of a ‘feel’ to it, it didn’t seem threatening or comforting, just...normal...if there ever was such a thing. Aaron continued asking questions regarding the pentagon;

“Was it carved to protect the house?” he asked

Silence remained.

“Was it carved for evil things?”

Silence still resided in the room.

“Is anyone here at all?”

More silence.

“Let me try something.” I said. “Jay can you give us a helping hand?” I asked my follower, he was sat on the bottom step of the staircase looking far too relaxed for my liking.

“... _no-one here..._ ” he replied quite loudly which threw Aaron a little as he wasn’t expecting it.

“Are you sure? _No-one_ at all?” I asked

“ _...positive..no-one at all._ ”

“Well seems like we lucked out, no evil spirits.” I concluded.

Just then the basement door slammed and we all heard someone banging on the steps. I instinctively moved closer to Aaron and peered through the LCD screen at the stairs.

“You had to open your mouth didn’t you...” he muttered as the banging continued.

“My bad.” I replied. “Should’ve known that Sod’s law would interfere.”

Jay was now quite close to me, as if whatever had just entered could hurt us, it gave me some confidence but not much as the noise became louder and more extreme. The camera wasn’t giving us any hint as to what was going on, as far as it was concerned we were both imagining things, which didn’t really surprise me. Technology is so uncooperative when it comes to sudden spiritual activity.

“What do you want?” I asked “Have we intruded on your space?” My heart was slamming against my ribs, in all the times I’ve been physically attacked I’ve never been so scared as I was now. We then heard a voice which certainly wasn’t friendly;

“ _....Satan...is..here..._ ”


	14. Dark happenings

**Dark happenings**

It’s a wonder I’m not dead yet with all this weird stuff that’s happened to me over the past six months, now I’m in a pitch black basement with the guy who’s used for bait a lot during investigations and we were currently experiencing some crazy activity. Most people in my situation would probably faint or have a heart attack, nope not me; instead I just stood clinging to Aaron’s arm and desperately hoped that whatever was with us would leave us alone.

“What do you mean?” Aaron asked as the basement echoed with the sounds of the banging from the staircase.

“It’s pretty self-explanatory Aaron.” I replied.

The room got colder and the banging continued. I could feel Aaron trembling against my arm, my heart was still slamming into my ribs with increased speed at every sequence of noises, adrenaline coursed through me; turning my thoughts to mush.

“Who are you?” Aaron asked, his voice wavering slightly.

“ _...death…_ ” was the only reply we got through the noise.

“What?” I exclaimed a little louder than I expected.

“Oh my God...” Aaron whispered as the banging ceased.

We stood in silence trembling slightly. If there was any moment that I wanted to wake up in the hotel room and realise this was all a nightmare it was now. It was eerily quiet, a cold breeze kept blasting past me, almost as if it was circling us to find a weak spot to attack.

“…w-what do you want?” I asked the silence, there was little response other than another blast of air hitting me. I couldn’t sense Jay’s presence anymore, this caused me to panic slightly as he was possibly being over-powered by this other entity and that was certainly _not_ a good thing.

“…maybe it’s gone…” Aaron replied after no further noise was heard.

“…I pray to God that it is…” I uttered, “I think we should find Zak and Nick…I don’t like this basement…”

“I completely agree with you.”

We made our way to the staircase, I looked back into the darkness before ascending the steps, I could’ve sworn I saw a pair of eyes looking back at me. When I got to the top of the staircase I pulled the handle of the door to open it, it wouldn’t budge, I tried barging it with my shoulder, Aaron also tried his best to open it but it remained in the frame and not moving.

 A wave of emotions hit me, we were trapped in a basement with something that didn’t want us there, Jay wasn’t around and we had no way of contacting Zak and Nick. To put it simply; we were scared out of our minds. I reached for my phone, which was currently off so it wouldn’t leak EMFs accidentally, I turned it on, the white light blinded me slightly before my eyes focused. It was currently half past two in the morning, I had a full battery so I started filming. I didn’t have a night vision setting though so it was pretty much what our eyes saw only slightly more defined.

“…I don’t like this Aaron…I don’t like this one bit…” I said sitting on the top step.

“Neither do I…” he replied. “…whoever’s there, did you lock the door?”

Silence, it was mocking us, playing with our minds, waiting to see what we’d do now.

“…I want to get out of here…” I sighed looking around the room with my phone, I couldn’t see much other than faint outlines of objects and the wooden beams supporting the ceiling.

“Dude can you unlock the door for us? We won’t bug you again if you let us out of here…” Aaron called out.

“Aaron I doubt any spirit that called itself ‘death’ is going to let us out.” I muttered. “All I can say is that it’s toying with us, it wants a reaction.”

“If we weren’t trapped in this basement then I’d make a remark about you acting more and more like Zak every day.”

“Why would us being trapped in a basement have anything to do with that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, maybe we should be trying to get out of here…”

I rested my head against the stone wall, there were a few options we could choose from; 1) Wait for Zak and Nick to realise we weren’t back at base when the agreed time arrived. 2) Make a lot of noise so that Zak and Nick would hear us and save us.3) try and coheres the spirit into letting us go or 4) break the door down.

“Maybe we should try and find out who this spirit is…” I muttered. “I mean there isn’t any reason why a demonic entity would be here…other than the pentagon.”

“So are you suggesting that the spirit is just messing with us then?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah, I just figure that it could be a mischievous spirit who enjoys getting a kick out of scaring us…”

“Or…an angry spirit who hates you because of your ancestors actions.” He chuckled slightly

“…well…”

The sound of shuffling reminded us that we were trapped in here with something potentially dangerous, the hairs on my arms and neck stood up, I’d had enough of this. I stood up and precariously made my way down the steps with just a tiny flicker of light from my phone guiding me. Once I stood in the middle of the room I cleared my mind, searching for Jay, he still wasn’t around.

“Okay…I just want answers from you…” I said. “First; why have you locked us in here?”

The room was silent, I was slightly annoyed that the entity wasn’t responding to me.

“…secondly, do you have a beef with me because of my potential connection to the family who pissed you off?”

Still no reply. I could feel the slight annoyance turning into anger inside of me.

“..Thirdly; what do you intend to do with us?” I muttered through gritted teeth.

Once again, no reply.

“….answer me damn it!” I shouted. “Or do you have a problem with giving a girl answers?”

“ _….dioddef…_ ” a faint voice whispered in my ear. I was freaked out, I didn’t know what it meant but I didn’t think it was a good thing either.

“Did you just hear that?” I asked Aaron who was still sat on the steps.

“Hear what?” he replied

“…never mind then..” I mumbled, “I don’t speak Welsh, you have to speak to me in English.” I called out.

Silence returned. I felt somewhat cheated, it had spoken to me, it _knew_ I wanted answers but then decided to taunt me by speaking Welsh – a language I do not know a lot of.

“Seriously, if you don’t speak to us and our friend gets down here to investigate – he will not take things easy, he _will_ insult you.” I said. Not the Zak would be arriving anytime soon…

“ _…dioddef…._ ” It repeated. The fact that I had no idea whatsoever what it was saying was more than slightly concerning.

I looked around the darkness, my phone lit up telling me that it was low on battery – normally it lasted two days, today it had been about six hours before the investigation and now another 45 minutes in this basement. In other words; not normal activity.

“Are you draining the battery on my phone?” I asked.

Whatever was left of the battery disappeared instantly and my phone died. Great.

“Aaron my phone’s dead. It’s absorbing energy. I have a bad feeling about this now.” I bluntly said.

“Only now?” He asked. “Ugh…surely Zak and Nick will come to find us soon…right?”

I shrugged my shoulders, assuming he’d see my reaction through the camera. The cold blasts of air returned and were circling me, it was a strange feeling. Like before it felt as if I was being watched by something and it would attack me at my weakest point, but it had a slight excitement factor to it, I felt…excited…

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked.

I shook myself out of it and walked towards his voice. “I think so, I just felt something weird…like…excited..”

“…oh-kay…” he replied. “I wish we could leave…”

As if on command, the door out of the basement swung open and hit the handrail of the staircase. I turned on my flashlight, there was no-one there.

“Dude, let’s get the fuck out of here…” I said

Aaron got off the steps and walked up through the door, just as I got to the top step the door slammed shut in front of me, leaving me alone in the basement and Aaron on the other side of the door.

“Fuck.” I muttered. “Aaron?”

“Luna, hold on, I’m going to break the door down.” He shouted through the door.

I took a few steps down, he slammed into the door several times but with no result. The basement was getting cold, I had goose-bumps all up my arms and the hairs on my neck stood on end again.

“Crap, crap and double crap.” I cursed as Aaron stopped trying to break the door down.

“I’m going to go and get Zak and Nick, just sit tight and don’t annoy it.” He said, I could hear the panic in his voice.

“O-okay..” I whimpered.

I head his footsteps fading away, alone in a dark basement. I rectified that quickly by turning on the flashlight, this was an emergency so screw Zak and his ‘no lights’ policy. With the beam of light being my only comfort I huddled on one of the steps against the wall.

“Jay…please…just do something..” I whispered. I had no idea where he was or what he was doing but I was absolutely terrified without him.

“… _dioddef_..” the voice hissed, it was getting nasty now. I didn’t feel safe at all. For the first time on an investigation I prayed, I prayed that somehow this thing would leave me alone, that I’d be safe, that the guys would arrive soon…just anything and everything.

“…P-please…you’ve made your point…just let me go..” I begged. “I won’t bother you again…”

“… ** _dioddef_** _..._ ” it hissed right in my ear. I screamed and put my hands over my ears, dropping my flashlight in the process, it fell down the steps and rested on the floor, it then went out.

I sat in the pitch black, I was at the mercy of this thing, I was terrified, my heart was in my throat and I was breathing far too quickly for my liking. My thoughts were jumbled, many of them running though ways I could die at the hands of the spirit. What the hell was taking the guys so long?! _Maybe they got lost, maybe they won’t find the basement again, maybe I’ll be stuck here until the caretaker come to let them out._ I slapped myself, I needed to not panic, I needed to stay calm, or as calm as one can be in this situation.

“…okay…I am scared.” I said, breaking the first rule of ghost hunting; never admit you’re scared.  “You have terrified me, isn’t that what you want?”

“… _no._ ”

I whimpered, what did it want then? It called itself death, but surely spirits who kill people only exist in cheap horror movies…I hope…

“…at least tell me what you were saying in Welsh earlier….what did it mean?”

“… _dioddef…_ ” it hissed, followed by one of the most frightening laughs I had ever heard, it echoed around the basement which made it sound terrifying. I then felt _warm_ air on my neck, as if it was breathing on me. My body started shaking, I wanted to scream bloody murder, I wanted to run through the door and into the guys and never come back, I wanted to do a lot of things but I was paralysed with fear. The fear of the unknown.

My hair was tugged, followed by a brush against my shoulder. That did it, I screamed and scrambled off the step.

“Get away from me!” I screamed, close to tears. “Get away you…you…” I ran out of words as I tripped backwards up the steps, my elbows hit the stone wall but I managed to save myself before my head it the step. Quick as a flash it was right by me again, laughing in my ear. _Laughing_. Mocking me, enjoying the fear that I was in.

“Luna?” I heard Zak’s voice.

“Zak!” I cried, tears streaming down my face. I wanted out, now.

“Hang on sweetheart.” He replied. “Nick’s calling the caretaker to come and unlock the door.

“Make it stop!” I sobbed. “Just make it stop…”

“What?”

“It’s…just get me out of here!”

“We’ve tried breaking the door down but it won’t budge. Nick’s trying to get hold of them as fast as he can.”

The voice was saying words I didn’t understand, I didn’t want to know either, it was right in my ear, hissing and laughing all the way. It was torture. I would rather be dead than listening to it.

“Zak….please…” I cried, my voice was getting sore. I heard Ringo’s barks and whines from the other side of the door, they say pets can channel the emotions of their owners, I prayed he wasn’t experiencing what I was.

“…ugh…I don’t know what to do!” Zak was panicking.

“Zak the phone’s not working, I can’t even get a dial tone.” Nick’s voice became clear.

“OH perfect, how the fuck do we get her out of there?” Zak snapped.

My arms were feeling cold, the goose-bumps were getting worse, but most concerning was that they were feeling numb too. I subconsciously screamed for Jay, all I did whilst the spirit was still whispering to me was scream for Jay. I heard Zak and Nick rapidly discussing ideas to get the door removed quickly, the fact I wasn’t responding probably wasn’t giving them much hope.

“Luna?” Nick called.

“Nick..” I sobbed. “Get me out of here.” I still focused my thoughts on Jay.

“We’re trying, Zak’s looking around for something to break the door, like a crowbar or something.”

“I can’t do this for much longer….it’s torturing me Nick…psychologically…just get me out of here…” I whimpered.

Silence. The voice ceased but the feeling remained. What was it planning now?

A thud came from the door, followed by grunting, another thud, something broke through the wood. That’s when _it_ started again, only much much worse.

“ _…we warned you…_ ” it sang. It literally sang, like one of those taunting voices a small child would use when they’re trying to annoy their sibling. My leg was going numb now, my right arm was completely numb, it was dead weight even though I wasn’t leaning on it.

“Zak!” I cried. “Zak make it stop!”

 

A loud cracking noise came from the door and it broke. Next thing I knew I had been scooped up in someone’s arms, someone with a Celtic cross tattoo.

**~*~**

The minutes after I was retrieved from the basement seemed so surreal. I was carried to the base and sat on the floor, Zak ordered Nick to do something about the door whilst he told Aaron to control Ringo who had been going crazy to say the least. He then knelt down in front of me, barely inches from my face.

“…how do you feel?” he whispered.

“…..scared…” I whimpered before bursting into tears. He sat on the floor and wrapped his arms around my torso before bringing me closer to him. I cried into his chest, shaking from fear still. Jay was finally present, he didn’t feel normal though, he seemed to be disturbed, I would investigate it later, maybe when I wasn’t hysterical.

“…I…was just…so…scared..” I murmured into Zak’s shirt.

“Sh…I know..I know..” he whispered stroking my back in a comforting manner.

“…why me?” I wailed. “Why me? I haven’t done anything!”

“Sh…Sh Luna, calm down.” He replied. “Shh…”

My body relaxed, my heart settled down, as did my breathing. Zak pulled me back from his now slightly damp shirt. His eyes flickered with something other than concern, as he studied my face.

“Okay, it’s about four am. We’ve ended the investigation, Nick’s picking up the static cameras and motion sensors, Aaron is attempting to call the landowner to tell him what happened.” He explained. “Are you okay now?”

“…for now…” I muttered. “I just…”

“What?”

“I need sleep, but I’m afraid of the nightmares…and I don’t want to be a burden to Nick because of them.”

“…okay we’ll sort that out when we get let out, but for now are you okay? Any pain? Anything at all?”

I shook my head. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and be safe. Nick returned with lots of equipment, he glanced at me and Zak and said nothing as he packed the cameras away. Aaron also returned with Ringo, who ran straight for me and started licking my face.

“Is everything okay?” He asked.

Zak nodded, I hugged Ringo as he whimpered in my arms, I wanted to say I was safe now but I didn’t _feel_ safe anymore. After two hours of sitting awkwardly in the base room we were let out of Llancaiach Fawr Manor. Zak stood and explained the entire story of how the basement door got hacked to wood chippings whilst Nick got me into the van and Aaron packed the equipment up.

“….are you feeling better now that you’re out of there?” Nick asked as he settled in the driving seat.

“…I guess, I just want sleep…but I’m terrified of the nightmares…”

Aaron got into the front passenger seat and started giving Nick the run down on how to get to our hotel in a small village called Nelson, Zak soon got in the back seat with me and Ringo. He gave me a reassuring smile and patted my arm, the same arm that was numb only two hours ago.

Nick drove us to the hotel, it was the normal two connected rooms deal, Aaron and Nick were going to share a room whilst Zak simply said that he’d be sharing with me and Ringo, so that was final. The bags were dumped just inside the door, I was advised to take a shower to clear my mind before trying to sleep, I took the advice and spent an hour and a half with water pounding on my head. I came out of the bathroom to find Zak had pushed the two single beds together, I was confused to say the least.

“What…are you doing?” I said quietly, tying my hair into a ponytail.

“It might seem a little weird, but I’d rather it be a little weird than you suffering in silence because you’re afraid to get out of bed to wake me up about a nightmare.” He replied.

I was not in any kind of state of mind to start thinking logically so I just shrugged my shoulders and got into the makeshift double bed. My head hit the pillow and I instantly felt relaxed, my eyes started dropping, I was vaguely aware of Zak pulling the curtains shut, putting the room into darkness, and then climbing into bed. It was then I remembered he sleeps shirtless. Those thoughts were quickly forgotten again as our shared body heat caused me to slip into a relaxed state of sleep.


	15. Shifting thoughts

**Shifting thoughts**

Light streamed through a crack in the curtains, I was still half asleep when I rolled over and collided with something large and warm, it grumbled as I shook myself awake.

“You sleep too lightly…” Zak mumbled as he sat up on his elbow and blinked in the half lit room.

“…at least there weren’t any nightmares…” I replied quietly, trying to remember why I was in bed with Zak Bagans.

“Yeah, you talk in your sleep still though.”

My cheeks started burning, well this was slightly weird… “…what did I say?”

“I can’t remember, you rolled over during the night and mumbled something about Jay.” Zak said yawning in the process.

“…what time is it?”

“About midday, I normally sleep for twelve hours after an investigation. So I’m going back to sleep.” His head fell back on the pillow and he started falling asleep.

I wasn’t sure what to do, whether to attempt to get back to sleep or to get up. If I got up I didn’t know if I should go and see if Nick and Aaron were awake or not. Ringo was still sleeping by the end of the bed and wasn’t looking as if he was going to wake up anytime soon.

Eventually I just decided to stare at the ceiling and try to make sense of last night’s events. I remembered being trapped in the basement and everything that happened, I also remember not being able to sense Jay at all throughout the ordeal, or now for that matter…

“Jay…can you hear me?” I whispered.

There wasn’t a response, there was a small lingering feeling that he was here but it was faint and I didn’t pick up on it for a while.

“I am in no way mad at you or anything for last night, I know you couldn’t have saved me from that…thing…”

“ _…sorry…_ ” a very faint response

“It’s okay, are you okay? Did it drain your energy?”

“ _…yes, I couldn’t help you…_ ”

I nodded, “Just rest for a while, and don’t feel you need to make your presence known if you don’t have the energy to.”

The tiny feeling of his presence disappeared, now I really had nothing else to do but sleep. Zak was definitely asleep now, he looked quite relaxed when he slept, one of his arms was resting over his stomach whilst the other on the pillow above his head, his chest rose steadily with each intake of breath. Most girls in my position would be freaking out about how attractive he is, which I have to admit he is definitely above average, however after knowing him for all this time I just couldn’t imagine anything like _that_ happening between us.

_Luna please stop being so absurd, no good can come of this..._ My conscience complained, she always tries to ruin my weird thought patterns, sometimes I think that Jay is messing with me though.

Zak stirred in his sleep, he moved the arm from on the pillow to the mattress next to me, I started wondering if he was actually asleep, if not how could I find out? I began thinking of many, in my mind hilarious, methods of seeing if he was awake but I wasn’t sure if they were good ideas, and without Jay to ask for advice it was literally my choice.

  _Oh the fun I’m going to have_.

I sat up in the bed, my first idea was to simply call his name several times and start adding crazy statements on the end of them.

“Zak.” I whispered.

He didn’t react.

“Zak.” I said quietly.

No reaction.

“Zachary.”

Nothing.

“Zak, somebody delivered pizza.”

Still nothing, he rolled over though.

I sighed. “Zak, Nick is threatening to throw a bucket of ice over you.”

Absolutely nothing, maybe he was asleep.  I crawled over and whispered in his ear;

“O Zachary...I’d hate to see you get ice tipped over you but if you don’t say something soon then you’ll give us no choice...”

And he didn’t respond whatsoever. I felt too lazy to get up and get ice so I just changed tactics; I ran my finger down his arm, after no reaction I repeated the action. This time his arm twitched slightly, I felt myself smirking with triumph. I gently dragged my finger nails down his arm, not hard enough to leave a mark but enough that it would unsettle him, which it did as his arm twitched again.

“You’re certainly a heavy sleeper aren’t you?” I muttered as I continued trying to find ticklish spots on his arm.

“Luna what are you doing?” Nick asked from the doorway.

“...nothing evil, trust me, do you require my assistance?” I replied quickly, poking Zak in the shoulder.

“...no, just wondering what you were up to..” he replied uncertainly whilst giving me an odd look. “I’ll be going then...” he disappeared back into his room.

_Great, Nick now thinks you are crazy._

“He already knew I was crazy you stupid conscience.” I snapped. Zak wasn’t responding at all to my efforts to wake him up. I had only one other idea which didn’t require me unwrapping the rest of his torso from the duvet.

I grabbed my pillow and dropped it on his head, it didn’t do too much; all he did was roll over so he was facing me, still asleep. I retrieved the pillow and lightly hit him with it, he grumbled slightly, I had to stifle my laughter. I decided to do something else before hitting him again; I lined my face up with his and blew into his face, such a childish thing to do but it amused me when his face screwed up and he rolled on to his back.

“Awake yet?” I whispered.

No response. God damn it.

“Don’t make me hit you with the pillow again.” I threatened.

Still nothing. I was getting bored so I started hitting him with the pillow, he was still asleep which was getting annoying. He’d sleep through a storm probably. I gave up, in one last attempt to stir him from his slumber I lead across his chest and stared at the ceiling. The feeling of his chest rising and falling underneath my head was strange, very strange indeed, yet soothing...

**~*~**

I had no idea what happened but I guessed I fell asleep as I was next aware of the lighting in the room had changed, Zak was still asleep and i was still resting my head on his chest.

“You do realise Aaron has taken several pictures of you two don’t you?” Nick’s voice came from the doorway.

“No, considering I just woke up....what time is it?” I mumbled.

“Half three.” Nick replied. “You should probably get up.”

“Meh, I’m quite content here.....”

“Of course you are, why would I expect anything less?” he smirked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Figure it out for yourself, after all; you’re blushing.”

“....uh..well...it’s hot in here?” I stuttered, searching for a comeback.

“Well if I had a ‘thing’ for Zak I’d be saying that too.”

“Come again?”

“Never mind, just implying you have a thing for Zak. I’ll leave you alone now, Aaron and I are analysing stuff now if Zak asks when he wakes up.” With that he disappeared back into his room, leaving me to deal with my confused emotions and thoughts.

As far as I could tell the following statements were true; 1) Nick was suspicious of _things_ happening. 2) I was beginning to feel different kinds of emotions towards Zak, more than ‘brotherly’ in other words. 3) I am confused because of these feelings. 4) Jay is unable to give advice on the current situation due to last night.

So in other words; I am confused. I remained staring at the ceiling hoping that the solution to these problems would reveal itself there, I would be sadly disappointed. Zak stirred from underneath me and actually woke up for the first time in hours, he sat up so I ended up led on his lap.

“Why...are you led on me?” He muttered rubbing his face with one hand.

“I was bored of trying to wake you up.” I replied, continuing to stare at the ceiling.

“Did Nick or Aaron come in?”

“Well you see, I kinda feel asleep...and when I woke up Nick informed me that Aaron may have taken one or two photos...and that their analysing stuff right now so...yeah” I slowly answered, trying to gauge his reaction.

“....I see...” he mumbled. “I think we should get up.”

“Probably a good idea...” I stated.

We didn’t move, I stared up at him and desperately tried to stop any weird comments from leaking out of my stupidly active brain. He gave me a confused look for a few seconds before laughing and running his hands through his black hair which was stuck up at odd angles.

“Well so much for that.” He remarked. “If either of them walk in now it’s going to look _very_..uh..weird.”

“And your point is?” I asked. “They know I’m crazy, they know you’re crazy it’s cool.” I wasn’t sure what I was trying to say, it was just amusing being led practically on his crotch and he was worried that our friends would find it weird.

“Where’s your puppy?” Zak asked, changing the subject.

“He probably followed Nick out of the room at some point.” I bluntly replied, shutting my eyes momentarily.

Silence fell in the room, the amount of times that I’ve ended up in a silent room is uncountable, yet this time it was different, I was not waiting for a spirit to answer me, I was sat with Zak and neither of us were saying anything. Almost as if we were waiting for the other to speak, I didn’t trust my traitorous mouth so I wasn’t about to start rambling but the silence was starting to become annoying.

I still had my eyes closed when I felt something brush against my cheek, it caught me by surprise and my eyes flew open. Zak was staring intently at me as his hand brushed against my cheek again, I wasn’t sure what I should do, encourage him? Stop him? Argue? My mind was too jumbled to come up with anything sensible to say, however my stupid mouth betrayed me;

“W-what are you doing?” I whispered. “...I mean don’t stop but...”

_God damn it Luna...._ I could almost see my physical conscience shaking her head at me, it wasn’t my fault my mouth wouldn’t keep shut.

“...I honestly have no idea..” Zak replied quietly, continuing to touch my face in a flirtatious manner.

“...uh...” was all I could manage to say. I really had no idea what was going on or why I was letting this happen, where was Jay when I needed him to get my thoughts straight? Or maybe they _were_ straight and this is what I wanted.

“...I better go and see what those two have been up to...” he said nodding towards the door.

“I agree...I want to take a shower...” I replied, finally getting off of him. Our faces were level for a split second before I got off of our make-shift double bed. I looked at the clock, apparently it was five in the evening, which wasn’t too hard to believe.

“Didn’t you take a shower earlier?” Zak asked, following me with his gaze as I rummaged around the room looking for my travel bag.

“yeah...but I feel like taking another...” I answered, the shower is actually my thinking space so I was really only taking one for the isolation and thought space.

“..Okay... well I’ll be in Nick’s room when you get out.”

I nodded and eventually found my bag and entered the bathroom. Once I was in the shower, with water pounding on my head, I began to try and make any kind of sense of what just happened and whether I enjoyed it or not.

From what jumbled emotions I could find I think I _did_ like it, but I wasn’t sure if I should even be going down this road with Zak, I mean he’s like a brother – granted maybe he’s a bit more than that _now_ – but he was probably tired and not sure what he was doing. In fact he _said_ he didn’t know what he was doing!

I leaned again the shower wall in thought. But did that mean he was blinded by his emotions? Why didn’t he stop? At this rate it could be more than cheek touching...

“Ugh life is so hard...” I muttered.

“... _At least you’re still alive..._ ” a voice came from the other side of the shower curtain. Sounded like Jay was back to talk.

“I know...but...I don’t know what to do about this....did you see what happened?” I replied.

“ _...yes...it was quite funny._ ”

I laughed, so glad that someone found it amusing. “Any ideas on what I should do?”

“... _I can’t tell you, you have to decide yourself based on your feelings for him. Just think about it and choose what you think is right...._ ”

Oh great, the one person who I expect advice from just tells me the same thing Kate would...wait...Kate, of course, now why didn’t I think of asking her first?

I finished my shower and quickly got dressed, I tied up my wet hair and rushed into the room to find my phone. Once I dialled Kate’s number I waited impatiently for her to pick up...or not pick up in her case...

“Hello?”

“I require your opinion.” I replied

“Luna? Great where did you get scratched this time?” she sighed.

“no it’s not that it’s Zak.” I said in a hushed tone, suddenly aware that they might be able to hear me.

“ooh....Zak eh? What’s going on?” she suddenly sounded interested.

I quickly explained what had happened last night and early this morning, then how Zak had somehow gotten me to share a bed with him, Jay’s advice and finally how my emotions are completely goofed up now. She giggled for a while before replying; “Always the same story isn’t it?”

“...what?”

“Well this just seems to be déjà vu with you and guys.”

“Kate, I am on a very strict time constraint, Zak, Nick or Aaron could walk in _any moment_ and hear me, can you please just give me some advice?”

“Alright alright!” she sighed. “Hmm...I have to agree with Jay, no-one can tell you what to do about this. However, given what you’ve told me about the paranormal I would highly stress that getting emotionally involved with Zak like that may come back to haunt you...literally...pun intended.”

“Okay....thanks, I’ll send you a postcard from Ireland, we’ll be there in a few days. This summer is certainly one to remember already.”

“Sounds good, have fun, stay safe – say hi to the guys for me!” she replied before hanging up.

Well now I just have to figure out what to do, not only whether I actually have those kind of feelings for Zak but if I _do_ then whether it would be safe to act on them, as Kate pointed out – it may come back to haunt us...literally...

I rubbed my forehead as I collapsed back on the bed, I was strangely tired again. My thoughts started wondering... Zachary Bagans...I wonder if he knows that he’s emotionally confused me, maybe I’ll ask him for his thoughts on what happened...


	16. Emotional Termoil

**Emotional Termoil**

I was beginning to become obsessed with the ceiling, maybe just looking at it helped my mind tick. Either way I found myself once again looking upwards for answers to the simple question ‘was I falling in love with Zak Bagans?’ Both Jay and Kate told me that it was my choice and no-one else’s, that hadn’t made the answer any clearer. I was toying with the idea of asking Nick for the sake of a third opinion, plus he would have a better idea of what this could mean for investigations...if we _did_ start...

I rubbed my forehead, maybe I was over-thinking this, or maybe I wasn’t thinking about it enough? I needed to get out of this room, I got up and walked into Nick’s room, and all three of them looked up from what they were doing and stared at me.

“I’m going to go and get some fresh air, it’s awfully stuffy in this hotel.” I said trying in mask my confusion. Nick got up from his seat and gestured to the door.

“I’ll come with you, I need a break from the computer screen anyway.”

All I could reply with was a nod before opening the door and walking out into the hallway. We walked down the red carpeted stairs to the reception area, wood-panelling seemed to be the theme of the entrance hall that we walked though to get outside.  The sun was slowly sinking in the sky but it was nowhere near nightfall yet, we walked around to the garden behind the hotel where we sat on a wooden bench. A light breeze rustled the leaves of the small woodland nearby, it felt kind of weird just being sat with Nick, sure he was like a brother now but considering the nature of my confusion it just made everything ten times more awkward for me.

“So how are you feeling?” He asked, bringing me out of my panicking mind.

“..alright I guess, I don’t remember having any nightmares...” I replied quietly.

“Well that’s good, we were all worried about you, especially Zak.”

“Zak?”

“Yes, we established after your possession at the DuVade mansion that he _is_ human Luna. He was going crazy once Aaron came up and told us what happened.” Nick explained “I mean, you’re one of the crew now and I’m guessing he was freaked out that it could’ve been a repeat of your possession.”

“...I guess...” I mumbled. Nick always had this knack of putting things into perspective, I never really consider other people’s thought when situations take place like last night.

“There’s something else bugging you isn’t there?” his voice was low and hushed.

“....I..” I uttered, did he know? Had Zak told him? What was I supposed to say?

“You seemed pretty flustered when you came in to tell us you were going out.” He continued. “I just wondered if there was something else bugging you.”

“oh...I see...” I replied. “Well...” I wasn’t sure how to word my confusion, especially to Nick. I started pulling at a loose thread on my shirt as I searched for the words.

“…take all the time you need, I’m not going anywhere, I won’t tell anyone either.” He said, looking at me with the familiar look of understanding in his eyes.

I sighed, “When we got here after the investigation and Zak told us that him and I would be sharing a room I didn’t think much of it. I took a shower, when I came out of the bathroom I found he had pushed the beds together…I didn’t really bother to question his logic about my nightmares so I just went to sleep…next to him…” I mumbled quietly.

Nick nodded as I told him. “...so…this took you by surprise when you woke up?”

“Yeah, after a while I decided to try and wake him up…which was when you walked in…and I just…I don’t even know.” I said shaking my head. “My attempts to wake him up failed and I actually fell asleep on him.”

“As both Aaron and I saw…” he added.

“Yeah…once you left, Zak woke up.” I replied “…and..” I couldn’t say it. I don’t know why, it wasn’t exactly traumatising or anything, I kind of wanted to keep it between Zak and I.

“…what?”

“…I was just led on his lap…like where I fell asleep…and he just started stroking my cheek…it just surprised me..” I explained.

“..right...and how do you feel about it now?”

“I’m not sure, I mean I liked it but…I don’t know if I should let myself…ya’know…fall for him.”

“Why not?” Nick asked. “Why do you think you shouldn’t?”

“Well I think it might disrupt our investigations…I mean we just need another incident like last night to happen and he could lose it…or the other way around.”

“True, but placing that aside for now…what are the other reasons?”

“…I…I don’t know. I guess I just don’t want to…accidentally…hurt him or something…” I stuttered.

“Well, I can’t speak for Zak, but maybe you should talk to him about it, not now but give it a few days and see what he says.”

“What would I say? ‘Hey I kinda like you but all this hunting ghosts and demons might hurt any relationship too much.’ Somehow I don’t think that’s a good approach.” I sighed.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Nick sighed back, “Like…uh…something along the lines of ‘about what happened the other day in bed’”

“That just sounds _so_ suggestive.” I laughed “I think that would completely take the seriousness out of the question.”

“Exactly, humour him first.” Nick laughed.

I shook my head, this wasn’t helping, it was just making the situation sound suggestive.

“Going back to the investigation part, do you know if activity could pick up if we show…affection…towards each other?” I asked.

“Possibly, it rather depends if any reports are based on targeting couples or something like that, I have a feeling that Zak wouldn’t put you in danger if he could help it. Like he didn’t send you into the basement knowing that you could be attacked, it was just pot luck.”

I nodded, things were starting to become clearer, not much clearer but clear enough.

“So if you were to…get together, I don’t think it would affect the investigation that much, he already protects you quite a bit, it would just be more evident. Which you’re right, could be more dangerous to attack from any less-than-good spirits looking for a bit of fun, but for the most part it wouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“Mmmm…okay.” I answered, “Can I ask you one thing?”

“Sure.”

“What do _you_ think I should do?”

Nick sat in silence, it was a little worrying. He finally replied after a few moments of thought. “I think you should wait a while…just to clear your head. We won’t be investigating until we’ve analysed the evidence from last night, so you have a few days at least.”

“Okay…sounds good.” I replied. “I suppose we better get back, lots of footage to go through right?”

“Yeah, I might call home first though so feel free to go back now but I’ll stay here for a while.”

“Sure, I’ll tell Zak and Aaron when I get up there.” I said and got off the bench. Armed with a new frame of mind I made my way back inside the hotel. So it was just a matter of letting things take their course then? I can do that.

I entered the room where Zak and Aaron were sat drinking coffee and Ringo was sleeping under the table, before either of them had a chance to say anything I spoke; “Nick’s calling home, he’ll be up in a while.”

“Ah okay, well we actually just got done reviewing everything…” Zak started.

“We caught some crazy shit.” Aaron interrupted.

“Yes Aaron…” Zak sighed. “Including something I want to ask you about.”

“What is it?”

“Do you know what this means?” He played the clip through the speakers, it was the taunting voice that hissed in my ear several times; ‘ _…dioddef…_ ’

The memories of last night came flooding back to me all at once. The feeling of isolation, dread and the darkness they were wrapped in, the voice that will forever creep me out when I hear it. Zak and Aaron gave me a puzzled look for a moment.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked “You’ve gone pale.”

“Y-yeah, just…memories…no I don’t know what it means, which is what made it ten times scarier.” I stuttered,

“We only heard it once on the recording….” Aaron replied.

“…that’s because it only said it once whilst you were there…” I mumbled. “Once I was alone it kept repeating it over and over…laughing…it  _laughed_ at me…” I was close to tears as I recounted my night from hell, I put my hands over my face to hide my tears. The next thing I knew I was being picked up and carried somewhere, I brought my hands away from my face as I was put down.

_What…the…_

Zak had picked me up and I was now sat on his lap as he sat back down again, he had one arm around my torso and the other holding my legs in place. I glanced across the room at Aaron but my attention got quickly drawn back to Zak.

“Shh…it’s okay..” he said in a hushed tone as more tears slide down my face.

“…wha…what..” I stuttered.

“Shh…” he said pressing a finger gently to my trembling lips.

I nodded slightly, I had no idea what the heck I was doing or what I should be doing. So much for letting things take their course.

“Well she’s got some colour back in her face.” Aaron concluded. “A lot more actually…”

Great, I was probably going red with embarrassment. My mind was spinning, my pulse was rapidly increasing, the trembling in my lips was getting worse and Zak could probably tell why, I knew why too…I was actually falling for him…

“Calm down…” he whispered. “It can’t hurt you now.”

“…I-I know..” I murmured.

 “Okay then…stop crying, it’ll be alright.” He whispered into my ear as he tightened his hold around my body and drew me closer to him.

This had to be some bizarre dream that Jay had concocted to screw with my mind, it _had_ to be. Zak wouldn’t be openly doing this kind of thing….could he?

Nick walked in and was a little surprised to say the least, I mean last time he saw me, no more than five minutes ago, I was pretty content with life so he must’ve been confused to find me crying into Zak’s chest whilst sat on his lap.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, Aaron simply shrugged, probably the most accurate response of all three of us.

“Yeah, just memories of last night after discussing an EVP.” Zak explained, stroking my arm in a comforting manner.

“Oh…the one in welsh?” Nick asked.

Zak nodded. “Seems like no-one knows what it means.”

“Try a translator?” I suggestive in-between the hiccups caused by my sobbing.

“Would help if we knew how to spell it…” Aaron sighed.

This would be the main thing I would’ve been thinking about if I wasn’t currently sat on the lap of a certain ghost hunter. The fangirls would be after my blood if they knew. Nick sat down at one of the laptops and played the clip over and over again, listening intently through his earphones. After a while in which Zak kept asking me if I was alright and Aaron kept tutting and sighing at him, Nick turned around and handed me a piece of paper with how he thought the word was spelt; ‘dio---f’

“Why are there three blanks?” Zak asked as he looked at the piece of paper.

“Because I had no idea what they were, the Welsh language is confusing.” Nick replied.

“…two d’s make a sound similar to ‘f’.” I muttered. “If that helps.”

The three guys looked at me before Nick turned back to the laptop and proceeded to play the clip through many times. He came back with a completed word this time; ‘dioddef’. I stared at it, this _had_ to be what was being hissed in my ear over and over again.

“This must be it…” I mumbled. “…find out what it means…”

**~ A few minutes later ~**

“What?!” I exclaimed. This couldn’t be it, it just couldn’t.

“According to several online dictionaries it is.” Aaron replied.

“But…that would mean…if you hadn’t had gotten me out of there when you did…” I stumbled over my words. Cue hysteria.

“Calm down.” Nick said, trying to keep everyone calm at once, which is no easy task.

“You didn’t hear what it said to me right before you guys broke the door down.” I snapped.

“Care to share then?”

The room fell into silence for the first time since we found out what the spirit was saying to me. Zak hadn’t said anything as my face drained of all colour for the second time this evening, he simply kept hold of me as all the memories came flooding back again.

“It said… ‘we warned you’.” I told them. “It sang it to me, like a child’s nursery rhyme…it was terrifying.” I started shaking for no reason, Zak responded to this by tightening his hold on me, which made things slightly better but not much.

“Okay…so it kept whispering the word suffer, or potentially ‘suffering’ at you. Then it taunted you by saying that ‘they’ warned you…” Nick concluded.

I nodded, I couldn’t stop shaking though, despite Zak’s assurances that it couldn’t hurt me anymore. The voice replayed over and over again in my mind and scared me every time, just even registering it happening scared me and caused me to flinch. Even my possession was less scary than this, mainly because it came and went without me really fighting it, but this was different, I knew this thing was dangerous, I was alone and I had no way to stop it.

My eyes slipped shut, it was easier to block out the voice this way, I went to my ‘happy place’ which oddly enough was Preston Castle in Jay’s era. It just seemed so peaceful for me there, Jay was always present even if not by sight, this was a place that he controlled and therefore nothing else could get in; demonic or otherwise. I had slipped into this faze a few times during the car journey’s but it mainly happened when I was asleep.

“Luna?” Zak’s voice pierced the sanctuary I was in, if I wasn’t confused about my feelings towards him I probably would’ve yelled at him. My eyes opened, I was back in our room, led on the bed with Zak  bent over me, his face inches away from mine.

“….you called?” was the only thing I could muster to say.

A small smirk played on his lips before he backed away slightly. “You kind of…fell asleep…and we were a little concerned so I brought you back here…”

“oh..” I mumbled, my heart had decided to make its presence known again by slamming into my ribs. My hands took on a mind of their own as they started stroking his arms which were either side of my torso, the only things preventing him from being on top of me.

“Well well….this is certainly unexpected…” he whispered, a smirk spreading across his face.

I said nothing, there was nothing to say, I had no idea what was going on anymore and I was past knowing anything. I’m always the last to know anything but this is just plain crazy. If this was what I was like without him actually doing anything then I’m going to be so screwed if we do get up to anything…

“The question is…is that the best you got?” he asked, he backed off completely and got off the bed. He shot me one last smirk as he went back into Nick and Aaron’s room.

I just stared at the closed door. Was that a challenge then?


	17. Challenge Accepted

**Challenge Accepted**

So here I am again; staring at the ceiling in thought. If I wasn’t confused before I certainly was now, with the way he was acting one could assume that he was leading me on.

‘ _Is that the best you’ve got?_ ’

That sly remark was certainly intriguing; did he want me to be more determined? I had no idea. My stomach started protesting, it was a little past half eight, having not eaten for nearly two days I suddenly felt really empty…my emotions had overpowered my hunger, oh bother.

I didn’t have to get off the bed and shuffle into the other room though as Aaron walked in with Ringo trotting by his side.

“Hey Luna, I’m taking Ringo out on a walk and then getting some food for us, you wanna come with?” he asked.

“Yeah sure, I haven’t really spent much time with Ringo since before the investigation.” I replied getting off the bed and locating my trainers. In no time at all we were walking up the high-street of the village with Ringo eagerly pulling on the leash as we passed many stone buildings that contained various specialist shops. This sparked a conversation about the pros and cons of a megastore like Wal-Mart.

“You can get pretty much anything there.” Aaron said

“But what happens if you can’t get what you need? You’d be screwed, at least in this country with our stores there are other places you can get things.”

“You can get loads of things for only a dollar”

“And who says advertisement doesn’t work?” I laughed. “All our stores compete with each other, so everything’s on special offer all the time. One of the reoccurring TV adverts is ‘at ASDA this week we have 2000 items for under a pound’”

“Hey we have that too!” Aaron exclaimed

“So? It’s more obvious over here.” I replied.

“No it’s not!”

The conversation continued in the same manner for a while, all the time Ringo seemed to be happy that he was out in the fresh air. We came to the last building on the street, after this there was nothing but fields and hills.

“Right we’re here.” Aaron announced.

“What?” I asked, we had stopped outside a fish and chips shop.

“Stay here with Ringo, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Aaron disappeared through the doorway of the takeaway, the familiar smell of fried fish drifted outside. I picked Ringo up and hugged him, which I wouldn’t be able to do for much longer as he was getting too big and energetic, he responded by licking my face as any dog would do. The sun was finally sinking towards the horizon, turning the sky a pink and purple colour. It was like something out of a fairy tale, it looked kind of romantic in a way, only second best in my mind to an orange sunset at a beach. My thoughts then turned to Zak, as they naturally would considering all that’s happened today…or was it two days? _Oh great I’ve lost track of the days._

“Right, I have the food!” Aaron’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Oh…cool.” I absentmindedly replied, putting Ringo on the floor again.

“Something wrong?”

“No, no just thinking.” I said. “Are we allowed to take food into the hotel rooms?”

“No, we’re eating it in the garden behind the hotel.” He answered. “We better get back soon though, Nick and Zak have plans.”

I didn’t like the sound of that….whenever Nick and Zak start making ‘plans’ it usually means bad things for certain people, and I had a feeling that because Aaron was in on the ‘plan’ I’d be the prime target. _Oh Perfect._

We walked back down the street, as we got closer to the hotel I could see someone stood outside the main door, it was Nick, and something about this made me feel a little uncomfortable.

“Hey you’re back, that was quick.” He remarked.

“Yeah there was no line or anything.” Aaron replied. “Where should I take this?” he asked holding up the bag.

“Take it around back, Zak’s still sorting things out, take Ringo with you too.”

Ringo’s leash was taken from my hand by Aaron and they both slide off down the side path leading to the garden, leaving me and Nick stood outside the hotel. He gestured for me to follow him inside, I did so, not quite sure what was going on but surely Nick wouldn’t be planning anything _too_ bad….right? I followed him up the stairs to Zak’s room, the door was unlocked and he went in.

“Okay, get changed into something…nice…not formal…just nice ya’know?” he said to me as I closed the door behind me.

“…why?”

“That would be telling.” He smirked, I should probably just assume that whenever any of the guys start smirking that something is being plotted. “I’m going to get changed in my room, I’ll come and get you in ten minutes okay?”

I nodded, he left and I was alone with my thoughts once more. Somewhere in my mind I could hear Jay laughing at me.

“Unless you have something useful to say; please refrain from laughing Jay.” I said bluntly as I searched my bag for something ‘nice’. There wasn’t much that could be classed as such a thing, most of my clothing was casual meaning mostly blue tank tops and jeans…apart from..

_When did I buy that let alone pack it?_

Somehow…someway…a short summer dress had found its way into my travel bag. It was a black and purple checkered dress with black netting underneath. It was a nice dress, I’ll admit that, however I don’t recall ever buying it or packing it in my bag, which gave me the only other reason; Jay.

“Jay my darling?” I asked the air as I brought the dress out of my bag and held it in front of me.

“ _..yes…_ ” he muttered. He hates it when I call him that.

“Do you happen to know how this ended up in my bag?”

“… _maybe…_ ”

Jay has a habit of going through my clothing a lot, most people would associate this behaviour with perverse brothers but I think he’s just curious about 21st Century fashion…or my lack of taste in it. He frequently moves my piles of clothing around so most of it is hidden from me when I need it the most and visa-versa, and likewise random items of clothing appear from nowhere. Hopefully no-one files a missing clothing report anytime soon.

“There’s no ‘maybe’ about it. You either do or you don’t. Have you been ‘finding’ clothing for me again?” I said.

“… _yes…don’t be mad…_ ” He murmured, I wasn’t mad, I was actually kind of happy that he had done it.

“Well it’s morally wrong for starters, but just don’t do it again…please.” I said, standing up from my bag and walking into the bathroom with it. There wasn’t anything else I could do with it other than wear it.

I put the dress on, it fitted perfectly and didn’t show the fact that I hardly had a chest, I then decided that I needed to do something about my hair, it was noticeably messy and desperately needed styling properly. After briefly consulting Jay on the whereabouts of my straighteners I managed to brush and style my hair, I tied most of it up in a ponytail held in place with a small star clip, I curled a piece of hair either side of my face and finally finished off by straightening my fringe. As for make-up; a bit of foundation, to hide my receding spots, some mascara and a tiny application of dark blue eye-shadow seemed to do the job with a bit of lip gloss to finalise everything. For someone who never cares about her appearance I think I did rather well at making myself look ‘nice’.

I came out of the bathroom to find Nick sat on the bed, wearing black jeans and a dark grey shirt – he looked quite smart in comparison to the normal ghost-themed attire. He looked up when he heard the door click behind me and just stared at me for a moment. “Wow…”

“Nice enough?” I asked, picking up my black strapped sandals.

“..yeah…you look..uh..nice.”

I laughed as I did up the straps. “Well I don’t normally dress up this…nice…so don’t get used to it.”

“Well, we should get going.” He said getting off the bed and offering me his arm. I stared at him for a moment before smiling and taking his arm in mine. This was so weird, although I wasn’t paranoid that they were going to do anything evil anymore.

We walked downstairs and outside. The sun had fully set now but the purple sky remained and the heat of the day was dying down causing the atmosphere to become peaceful and quiet. Nick led me down the side path that Aaron went down a few minutes previously, we came to the bench we sat on earlier but continued down a paved path running next to the building. As we continued walking I could hear piano music and Aaron’s laugher, _what are they up to?_

Nick stopped as we came to a floral archway and turned to me; “After you Luna.” He said and he let go of my arm and gestured to the archway. I nodded and cautiously stepped through into the sheltered space and was greeted by an interesting sight to say the least; Aaron was sat with Ringo at a glass table that had a huge plate of steaming chips on it, there were little glass lights nestled in the hedgerow that wrapped around the small patio, wooden beams stretched across the tops of the hedges and were decorated with ivy, and the thing that caught me off guard the most; a grand piano…and Zak was playing it, he was wearing all black as usual but it had a certain charm to it which surprised me a little, he had his eyes closed as he played and didn’t even notice my presence.

“…wow…you look nice Luna” Aaron exclaimed, he too like Nick and Zak was wearing just plain dark clothing with the same charm they had.

I smiled, this entire situation was so strange to me that I just didn’t even bother trying to make things ‘normal’ again.

“Take a seat then.” Nick said from behind me. Aaron got up and pulled out a chair for me, I sat down and he pushed it in for me, all this class just for a plate of chips…

Zak didn’t react to anything, he just continued playing the piano, I watched as his fingers glided over the keys and soft notes drifted through the area. I seemed to zone out so much whilst watching him that Nick had to wave his hand in front of my face to get me to respond.

“Oi Juliet, your food’s getting cold.” He laughed.

“The name’s Luna, Nick.” I replied, stabbing a few chips with my fork.

“I know.” He laughed. “Zak are you going to eat?”

The previously oblivious man playing the piano suddenly looked up and his eyes met mine. The same look that he gave me after my attack…a look of mixed emotions. He came and sat down next to me, Nick was sat on my other side and Aaron across the table. For a moment no-one said anything, I wasn’t sure if I should say anything to Zak or not.

“So what’s all this for then guys?” I asked, gesturing to the surrounding area.

“It’s just a little something to take our minds off investigating, have a bit of fun.” Aaron replied.

“Ah I see, how did the hotel allow you do to this?” I asked.

“I have no idea.” Nick chuckled to himself. “But they did.”

“Well it’s marvelous.” I complimented, looking at each of them in turn, my eyes lingering on Zak a little longer than necessary.

“Thanks, it was Zak’s idea, we just helped pull it off.” Nick said, looking directly at Zak who proceeded to go a little red.

“It was a wonderful idea Zak.” I remarked.

“..thanks…um…you look...b-beautiful…” he stuttered,

_No way….I did not just hear Zak Bagans stuttering…no freakin’ way…_

“Thank-you.” I replied, trying to hide my excitement at what just happened. I glanced at Nick who was trying to hide his smirk, and failing epically.

We ate the rest of our food with idle talking taking place, I found myself taking more notice of Zak’s actions, even the little insignificant ones; like how he sat back in his chair and pressed his fingers together, the way he blinked every time he started a new sentence when he spoke, and how he’d look at each person in turn as he spoke, making sure not to leave anyone out of the conversation…lots of little things.

“Well, I’m going to head up and take a shower.” Aaron said stretching and getting up from the table. “See ya’ll later.”

Zak got up from his seat and went back to the piano, soft music floated through the area again, Nick sat and stroked Ringo who had been sat under his chair since we started eating whilst I gazed up at the night sky; the stars were just little white lights in a deep black obelisk…just like we are during a lockdown…

After a while Nick yawned and got up. “Well I’d love to stay and fall asleep here but I’m gonna head back to my room too, shall I take Ringo with me?”

“No leave him here, we’ll be fine.” I replied. “Goodnight Nick.”

“Night, don’t stay up too late.” He said quietly nodding towards Zak who appeared to be oblivious once more.

I smiled, he left me with Ringo and a blissfully peaceful Zak. I leaned back in my seat and returned to looking at the sky in the dim lighting, Zak’s piano playing soothed me, I felt sleepy…my mind was beginning to wander when I suddenly remembered what he had said to me…

He was still oblivious to his surroundings it seemed, his eyes were closed and his hands glided over the keys with ease, this gave me an idea that involved the element of surprise. I quietly got up and smoothed my dress out, I made my way around the chairs so I was standing behind him as he continued to play with little error.

I moved closer, then without hesitation I wrapped my arms gently around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder, my hands resting on his chest. He stopped playing and turned around in his seat to face me, I let go of him as I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, it’s safe to say I was a little surprised when he pulled me closer by my legs. I wrapped one of my hands up in his hair whilst the other caressed his face, I could feel his hands gently holding my thighs as I continued to stroke his cheek, he hadn’t shaved in a few days so there was a small amount of stubble around his jawline…I found it oddly appealing.

“…I assume this is challenge accepted then..” he murmured.

“If you want it to be…” I smirked.

He replied by taking my hand in his. “I won’t go easy on you though.”

“I wouldn’t want you to.” I whispered as I stepped away from him, I picked up Ringo and walked to the archway. “In fact, I enjoy the thrill of a chase, it makes things more interesting.”

With that, I left him at the piano, I had no idea what had just happened but I was giddy from excitement. The next few days were going to be _very_ interesting, and I was looking forward to it.


	18. Tag-team of questioning

**Tag-team of questioning**

I was already asleep when Zak eventually came into the room; I vaguely remember waking up in a daze when he whispered something to me in a voice that was thick with something other than fatigue...

When I woke up the next morning, with sunlight streaming through the thin curtains, he wasn’t in bed, it was still warm where he had been sleeping so he hadn’t been gone for very long. Ringo had since climbed up onto the unmade bed and was in a deep slumber.

“Jay what time is it?” I mumbled, turning over and kicking the bed sheets off my legs.

“ _…find out for yourself…_ ” he replied in a bored tone.

“I’m too lazy Jay.” I whined.

“Now why does that not surprise me?” Zak remarked from the bathroom doorway. I glanced up through my fringe at him, he had just gotten out of the shower and hadn’t bothered to put a shirt on yet, that certainly woke me up.

“Uh…well I do tend to get lazy if I haven’t got anything useful to do.” I mumbled, my eyes fixated on his biceps.

“Well we’re leaving later this afternoon, so you’ll be doing something ‘useful’ soon.” He smirked.

I nodded, so this was how it was going to be; him teasing me with his body, well two can play at that game.

“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked, still with a smirk on his face, as he stepped closer to the bed.

“No thank-you Zachary.” I replied smugly. I saw his smirk twitch slightly at being called ‘Zachary’.

“You sure?”

“….well I suppose there is something you could do for me..”

“Yeah?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“I haven’t looked at the state of my back since the day after the ancient ram inn investigation…could you look at it for me?” I fluttered my eyelashes at him, “Just to see how it’s healing?”

He swallowed, his eyes studied my body as I rolled over on the bed. “…sure.”

I felt the bed sink down as he climbed on, one hand was placed beside my waist whilst the other started pushing my top upwards. He carefully moved my hair out of the way, brushing his hand against my neck as he did so which caused a shiver to run down my spine, I swear I heard him laugh slightly. As he continued pulling my shirt up, leaving my back exposed, I could feel my breathing getting faster.

“…it seems to be healing well..” he whispered as his fingers traced the scratch, it tickled like heck and I couldn’t help twitching.

“Oh okay then.” I said.

He remained tracing the scratch, it was beginning to become unbearable. I was meant to be making him want _me_ not the other way around…

“Anyway, are you getting up?” he said.

“..I probably ought to.” I replied

“Well you don’t have to…Nick and Aaron have packed most of the stuff up already so…”

I bit my lip as he started drawing circles on my back with his finger, this was insane, he was purposely making this difficult for me.

“So what?” I asked, desperately trying not to give away my pleasure.

“I don’t know, think of something to do.”

Oh great, _now_ he decides I have to take control, right when I’m not exactly in the right frame of mind to. Not that it really mattered as my mind was already at work. I had a few options, however my thoughts kept getting disturbed by Zak’s wandering fingers, he was tracing my spine and it was _very_ distracting.

“…I can’t think if you’re doing that…” I muttered into the pillow. I was secretly enjoying it but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“What was that my dear?” he asked.

“…nothing..” I mumbled again, suppressing a slight moan.

He sniggered, he was enjoying this far too much, I had to do something about it soon or I’d lose any hope of keeping this chase up in the rush of emotions.

“Thought of anything yet?”

“…no…” I replied. I was too busy trying not to show my enjoyment at this situation to think.

“You’re so easy to distract.” He remarked, his fingers were still tickling my back and it was getting to the point where I was going to say or do something stupid soon if he didn’t stop.

“…y-yeah…of course I am..”

I felt the weight on the bed shift and my shirt was pulled back down, I became aware that he was now leaning over me, his body close to mine. “And that is what will be your undoing.” He whispered in my ear.

“Zak what areyou _doing_?” Aaron exclaimed from what I assumed was the doorway. “Nick, get in here!”

Within seconds I was led on the bed by myself, Ringo was jumping up at Aaron whilst Zak scrambled off the bed. Cue awkward questioning.

“What’s up?” Nick asked, poking his head around the door.

“I just walked in on these two….” Aaron replied.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about.” Zak flatly said running a hand through his hair.

“Walked on them doing what?” Nick pursued.

“I don’t know, he was led over her.”

I rolled over and sat up, Zak was showing little emotion in his expression whilst Aaron looked confused and Nick had a somewhat unsettling smile on his face. It took all of the self-control I had left to not burst out laughing.

“Well…maybe we should let them get back to it…” Nick said slowly, raising an eyebrow at Aaron before disappearing back into the other room.

“What? Dude what are you on about?” Aaron asked

“Precisely what I said Aaron.” Came the response from the other room.

“But…”

“Aaron, dude leave Zak and Luna alone. Trust me on this one.”

“The last time you said ‘trust me’ I ended up in being bait in a demonic hotspot.” He muttered as he walked into the other room with Ringo running alongside him.

I then couldn’t hold it any longer, I curled up in a ball in hysterical laughter. Nick probably knew that nothing was going on but the fact he played along just made it seem hilarious to me. Zak just looked at me as if he had missed the joke.

“And why are you laughing?” he finally asked when I stopped laughing enough to breathe.

“I don’t know anymore, but it’s funny. Just the way Nick didn’t react in the same way Aaron did.” I giggled.

He shook his head at me, “You have a weird sense of humour.”

I just stuck my tongue out at him, my childish nature showing through again, this wasn’t the time to be serious, I had to get back in control somehow and this was the only way I could think of doing it.

“Well, I think we should actually start packing up our stuff then if we’re leaving this afternoon.” I suggested, sliding off the bed.

“I suppose you’re right, I have to actually find out where we’re going next – we have two possible locations lined up and I have to pick one.” Zak replied. “I’m going to go look over the reports and then call them, if Nick or Aaron wonders where I am; I’ll be in the lobby.”

I nodded, after Zak left I decided to get changed before packing my stuff up. The dress I wore last night had been discarded by the bathroom door and was a little bit creased to say the least. I got changed into a blue shirt and my beloved jeans and then started lazily packing my bag. It surprised me that Zak was actually quite tidy, he kept his clothing in the drawers of the closet and any towels he had used were in a pile in the corner of the bathroom so it was pretty much only my stuff that made the room messy.

My bag was once again packed, it occurred to me that the curtains hadn’t been opened since we got here, I pulled them apart and the midday sunlight poured into the room which temporarily blinded me.

“Agh natural light…” I grumbled.

“Oh so you _are_ a vampire.” Someone remarked from behind me. I turned around and it was Nick, looking rather pleased with himself.

“Clearly.” I replied, stifling a laugh.

“Care to tell me what you and Zak were doing a while ago?”

“Nothing extreme. I promise.” I replied.

“Just a little bit of this and that?” he was having a ball with this, I could tell from his grin.

“More like him turning my thoughts to mush as usual.” I stated.

“Oh yeah?”

“Nick I’m not telling you every little detail.”

“Suit yourself, I can only imagine the stuff being broadcasted on Aaron’s vlogs, he’s recorded quite a few in the past day.”

_Oh great, now the internet might know._

“Has he uploaded any of them?” I asked.

“Maybe, I have no idea.”

“Well…I’ll have to go and ask him won’t I?” I declared as I walked past him into the other room. I found Aaron in the middle of uploading something to YouTube…I didn’t like that omen.

“So Aaron….how many vlogs have you recorded?” I asked in the most innocent voice I could uster.

“Oh hey Luna! I’ve recorded about five so far, why?” he answered.

“….what have you recorded?”

“Oh just this and that; the car journey where Zak got lost, Nick and I going crazy with the analysis and the preparations for last night.”

“…have you uploaded them yet?”

“Nearly all of them, this is the last one.” He said gesturing to the laptop.

_Crap._

“You only named three events you vlogged about…what were the other two?”

“You can watch them and find out when this one’s finished uploading.” He replied smugly, “I’m sure you’ll be thrilled.”

_I don’t like the sound of that._

I heard Jay laughing hysterically, which was annoying because he probably knew what the other two videos were about and how I’d react to them. I made a mental note to interrogate him later, but being the typical teenager that he is he’ll probably just brush it off…he’s learnt too much from me already.

I spent the next hour begging Aaron to give me clues as to what the other videos were about, Nick found it far too amusing as I got on my knees and literally begged Aaron to tell me. Aaron though kept telling me that I had to wait until the fifth one had been uploaded to see them for myself, however the internet connection was slow here so it could take another two hours before then.

“Please tell me Aaron.” I begged again.

“No, and why is it so important?”

_Because I don’t want any rumours starting that Zak and I are…_

“Just wondering…I have the right to know if you’ve filmed me.” I replied

“Where’s Zak?” Nick suddenly asked.

“He’s looking over the location reports in the lobby to decide where we’re going next.” I answered. “He’s been gone a while.”

“Aw are you missing him?” Nick taunted.

“No.” I stated, my face felt warmer already.

“That was a rather quick response wasn’t it Aaron?” Nick slyly commented.

“Yeah…think she’s hiding something?”

“I am _not_.” I said louder, folding my arms across my chest.

“ _Sure_ you’re not.” Aaron said.

“Sharing a bed with him though…that’s a little hard to overlook, and you stayed with him in the garden last night…what happened between you two?” Nick continued.

“Nothing happened.” I said, feeling my cheeks getting warmer. “We just talked, he played the piano, nothing else happened.” That wasn’t technically a lie, I just left out the content of our conversation.

“ _...she’s hiding something…_ ” Jay’s sing-song voice came through so loud and clear that Aaron and Nick heard him.

“Oh really Jay?” Aaron asked. “Care to share?”

“ _…all I will say is that they’re playing a game right now, just the two of them…_ ” Jay answered in a rather cheery tone.

I remained silent, in the end if I said nothing then they’d have nothing to hold against me…in theory. I could feel my cheeks burning as the conversation continued.

“A game? Sounds…interesting.” Nick said slowly, sounding out every syllable in the word ‘interesting’. “Want to tell us the rules of this ‘game’?”

“I have no idea what Jay is talking about.” I announced.

“She’s going red Nick, there’s _definitely_ something happening between her and Zak.”

“I know, but she won’t admit it. Maybe we should ask Zak when he gets back hmm?” Nick taunted, I knew he would actually ask Zak as well.

“He won’t tell you anything that isn’t true.” I remarked.

“I won’t tell them what?” Zak asked as he came through the door carrying a file.

_Shit, crap, double crap._

“N-nothing.” I stuttered. “It isn’t important.” I said before Nick or Aaron had a chance to say anything.

“…right…” Zak looked at me doubtfully and then to our manically grinning friends. “Anyway I’ve decided we’re going to the Skirrid Mountain inn. It’s not too far from here so we might as well stay here for the next few nights.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved by this news or not. I was also waiting for Nick to just open his mouth and ask Zak about the supposed game, I’d probably die if he admitted to it.

“And by the way, Aaron I’ve seen the videos you uploaded…all I can say is that I’m locking the room door from now on.”

That did it, I needed to find out what these videos were of. “Care to tell me why? I mean we _are_ sharing a room.” I asked.

“Show her Aaron.” Zak seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh, he had that familiar twitch in his expression that portrayed amusement. It seemed more than a coincidence that as soon as Zak ordered this the final video finished uploading to YouTube.

“Alright dude.” Aaron replied as he found one of the offending videos. The title said it all really; ‘Sweet dreams’. As the video started I knew immediately what it was of…

_“Aaron come here, you need to see this”_ Nick’s voice came through the speakers. _“Bring your camera, this is gold!”_

The camera was picked up and carried to the doorway Nick was standing in, they both walked into the room Zak and I were sleeping in. Laughter soon ensued.

_“Shhh! You’ll wake ‘em up.”_ Aaron said. There it was; as plain as day, Zak asleep in bed and me asleep on his chest.

_“Aw…isn’t that cute?”_ Nick remarked. _“Just look at that…do you think they’ll be mad at us?”_

_“Nah, it’s all good fun. Certainly one for the GAC history books.”_

The video ended with them slinking back into their hotel room in quiet laughter, I wasn’t mad, a little embarrassed to say the least. Zak didn’t seem too bothered either but one can never tell with Zak Bagans.

“And the other one?” I asked after a few moments of silence.

The other video wasn’t that bad, it was mainly the set up for last night, with a few remarks from Aaron about Zak being able to play the piano and it ended just before I walked through the archway.

“Well…I’m inclined to agree with you Zak. Lock the door from now on.” I bluntly said, walking into our room without another word.

“....that went well.” Nick remarked.


	19. Down-time shinanigans

**Down-time shinanigans**

“They didn’t mean any harm Luna, they’re just having some fun.” Zak said as I paced the room. I wasn’t mad, I was a little annoyed but not _mad_. They only invaded my privacy, they didn’t exactly do anything to me, I wasn’t sure why Zak thought I was mad.

“I’m not mad.” I replied.

“Then why are you pacing the room?”

I stopped and looked at him, I then had a really childish idea that would get me back in control of this chase…possibly. “Pillow fight.” I said.

“Huh?” he had never looked so confused, it was quite cute.

I picked up one of the pillows from the bed and lightly threw it at him. “Pillow fight.” I repeated biting my lip whilst smiling slightly.

He still looked confused, probably because we just went from talking about how I was apparently angry to me throwing a pillow at him. To try and get the message across I picked up another pillow and hit him with it.

“I _do_ know what a pillow fight is.” He scoffed.

“Good, I’m bored so let’s have a pillow fight, make lots of awkward noises so that Nick and Aaron start getting worried. It’ll be hilarious.” I rambled before hitting him again.

His face lit up with a smirk before he promptly threw the pillow back at me. I don’t know how long we were fighting but we certainly made a lot of noise doing so, Nick started knocking on the door after a while and shouted something but neither of us heard him over our duel of the pillows.

All I can say is that things probably sounded _really_ suspicious when Zak randomly exclaimed; “Wow you’re good at this!” after I had managed to hit him in the face for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Maybe…we should take a breather…” he panted as he fell backwards onto the bed.

This was going according to my plan, now I’d take back the control of this ‘game’ as Jay referred to it as. I threw the pillow I was holding at the door and climbed on next to him. I started running one of my hands through his hair as he caught his breath back.

“I’m not as fit as I used to be…” he mumbled.

_On the contrary….you are quite attractive.._

“If you say so...” I murmured, my hand moved from his hair down to his face. He had shaved this morning so there was next to no stubble which caused his face to be smooth and delicate to touch.

“You have a different opinion?” he asked

“Yes but I’m not going to share it.” I said quietly.

“Why not?”

I let my hand move down to his chest, I leaned over him so my face ended up inches from his. “Because that’s for me to know and you to force out of me at a later date.” I whispered

I felt his chest rise quickly and then fall again, his breath tickled my chin as he let out a sigh that sounded somewhat like a moan. He found the hand that was keeping me from falling on him with his own hand and started stroking it, I didn’t give in to him though, falling on top of him wasn’t part of my plan.

“I thought I was challenging you...” he whispered, continuing to stroke my hand.

“Shh...”I murmured, putting a finger to his soft lips. “Stay quiet.”

“Why? What are you going to do if I’m not quiet?” he asked.

This was rapidly turning suggestive, whilst being in control was my goal it was hard to ignore the urge to just give in then and there. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if he didn’t stay quiet.

“Well...” I whispered, pushing my hand back over his chest. “I won’t tell you my opinion of you...”

“I’m sure I can live without it.” He replied.

I laughed slightly. “Wrong, you can’t, I know you can’t.” I spread my fingers out as my hand went back to caressing his chest. “Curiosity will get the better of you, I’d bet my life on it.”

As I drew my hand back I heard him sigh quietly, I started drawing circles on him with my fingers, just like he did to me earlier. His sighs starting turning into soft moans which I had to bite my lip to prevent me from laughing at.

“Ticklish Zachary?” I whispered.

“...maybe...” he moaned. Even I had to admit I was having a little too much fun with this.

“Or maybe this just...excites...you?”

“....ugh...” was all he answered with.

_Mission accomplished. Well...partly._

“Is that all you have to say?” I inquired, running my fingers up and down his slightly toned stomach muscles.

He didn’t even reply, I could feel his breathing rapidly increasing and that was all I needed to confirm that I was in complete control, whether he liked it or not.

I was about to start drawing circles on him again when the door opened, low and behold it was Nick, grinning like the cat that got the cream, which oddly enough describes Nick almost perfectly.

“Yes Nicholas?” I asked, sitting up yet my eyes returning to Zak, who was somewhat unable to comment for himself.

“Just wondering if you both wanted anything to eat, it is lunchtime after all.” Nick replied, I could almost hear the glee in his voice at finding us like this.

“...Zak? Do you want food?” I prodded him, he seemed to be slipping into a doze.

“...sure...” he mumbled.

“Well Nick I think that’s a yes.” I said, “So what did you have in mind?”

**~*~**

After a somewhat uneventful lunch, where the only memorable incident was Zak’s confused face when Ringo jumped on him, we ended up in Nick and Aaron’s room discussing the next location we’d be checking out and then investigating tomorrow.

“So why the Skirrid mountain inn?” Aaron asked, stroking Ringo, he had taken a shine to the puppy, maybe because they both got scared out of their wits whenever a spirit was present?

“Rumoured to be the oldest pub in Wales, it used to be a courthouse and legend has it that at least 180 criminals were hanged, there are still marks from the friction burns on the hanging beam.” Zak listed off, he was in a focused state of mind even after this morning’s episode.

“And reported activity?” I asked.

“Feelings of a noose being tied around ones neck, cold spots, it’s apparently a good place for EVPs too.” Zak replied.

“Sounds good.” Nick concluded. “So we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning then?”

“Yep, half ten.” Zak stated. “Don’t be late.”

“ _Us_ being late?” Aaron exclaimed. “ _You_ better not be late.” He continued, gesturing to me and Zak.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re getting at Aaron.” I remarked, raising an eyebrow at him.

We all started laughing, I don’t think Zak will want to try and keep either of us awake tonight if it’s our only chance at sleep before we have to stay up for nearly 24 hours, but I wasn’t about to bet any money on that.

“Well I don’t intend on being late.” Zak added. “Or making anyone else for that matter...” he looked at me, I felt my cheeks warming up once more.

The afternoon seemed to fly by with ease, banter was thrown back and forth over the hours about the whole ‘sharing a bed’ situation but nothing serious broke out and no-one mentioned the noise that came from our room earlier...which was probably a good thing really. We spent most of the time throwing pieces of popcorn at each other, which quickly turned into throwing popcorn in each other’s mouths. I have no idea where the popcorn even came from – possibly Nick and Aaron’s personal supply – but the entire bag was consumed by us...or thrown at the floor as I have a lousy aim. 

“Nick have we got any marshmallows?” Aaron asked.

“No...Why?” Nick replied, throwing one of the last pieces of popcorn into his mouth.

“Aw we could’ve done that contest of ‘how many marshmallows can you fit in your mouth’.” Aaron sighed.

“NO.” Zak barked. “We’re never doing that again.”

“How come Zak?” I asked.

Nick and Aaron started laughing like crazy, there was obviously more to this than just Zak possibly disliking marshmallows.

“Ugh...did you ever see the Aaron’s vlog from execution rock?” Zak asked, rubbing his forehead.

“Yes, with the shmores?” I replied

“...you mean s’mores but yes, well we had that marshmallow contest whilst we were there...it wasn’t pretty..”

“I see, and I’m pretty sure it’s shmore, not s’more.” I commented.

“See that’s what I said!” Nick protested.

“No, it’s s’more.” Zak stated, fighting a laugh.

“Shmore.” I corrected him.

“....no.”

“Yes.”

We sat looking at each other, waiting for the one to correct the other.

“Aaron what do you think?” Nick asked.

“...uh...I don’t know.”

“Well it’s two against one Zak. Majority rules.” Nick concluded. “Shmores it is.”

Zak tried arguing with us, saying that the only way he’s heard it pronounced or seen it written proclaimed that it had no ‘h’ in it. Nick wasn’t having any of it though, it wasn’t quite clear what his argument was but he was positive that he was saying it right.

“Ugh fine.” Zak laughed, after what seemed like half an hour. “Whatever you guys say.”

_Oh really? Whatever we say?_

Nick and I cheered at our victory over the stubborn Zak, now I actually wished we had some marshmallows.

**~A few more hours later~**

“Well, I’m going to bed.” I stated, it was nearly eleven and I didn’t want to be too overly tired for our investigation. Aaron and Nick just nodded as small grins started spreading across their faces.

“G’night Luna.” Aaron said.

“Night, oh do you mind having Ringo with you tonight?” I asked, it was a pretty dumb question as the puppy was happily asleep on Nick’s bed and I didn’t have the heart to disturb him.

“No not at all.” Nick said. “Not. At. All.” Something about the way he repeated it made me feel as if he assumed I’d be too ‘busy’ to keep an eye on Ringo

“...thank you my dear Nicholas.” I replied before turning to walk through the door when I noticed the Zak wasn’t with us in the room anymore...

“I think he’s waiting for you...” Aaron remarked when he saw my confused expression.

_Oh for goodness sake, this is why I didn’t really want them knowing about this...._

“Well, I shall see you both in the morning then.” I said cheerily. “Goodnight.”

I proceeded into the room, Zak didn’t seem to be around so I assumed he was in the bathroom. I quickly changed and got into bed, as I turned the light out the bathroom door opened and he entered the darkened room. He climbed under the covers and I heard him mumble something inaudible.

“Did you say something?” I whispered, turning my head to face him.

“Not really.” He muttered in reply.

“You sure?” I asked, turning my body over to look at him comfortably.

“...yeah. Just mutterings to the spirits that occasionally follow me.”

“Oh...are they being a pain again?” I knew that he sometimes had less-than-friendly spirits following him and that they’ve wreaked havoc on his life and the people he cares about.

“Not really, but I’d rather they annoyed me than you.” He murmured, brushing his hand against my face.

“...well hopefully Jay would limit what they could do to me.” I replied, stroking his hand.

“Yeah...well we need sleep for tomorrow...”

“Yes we do, so goodnight Zak.”

“Goodnight sweetheart.” With that he rolled over and said nothing more.

I closed my eyes and started drifting off to sleep when the realisation hit me; Zak had just called me ‘sweetheart’.


	20. Paranormal Puppy goes solo

**Paranormal Puppy goes solo**

For the first time since our last investigation I had a dream, it wasn’t a nightmare as such meaning it wasn’t bad enough for me to wake up and need comforting from Zak, but it was bad enough for me to remember it. The dream itself didn’t have much plot to it; I was in the dark basement of the manor house and all I could see was two red eyes staring at me, then the whispering started again, the same word that paralysed me with fear every time I heard it; ‘dioddef’.

When I woke up I could feel Zak’s body rather close to mine, so much so that every time he exhaled, his breath would tickle the back of my neck. He also had wrapped his arm around my torso, which was a little startling to say the least but thankfully he was still asleep so he didn’t hear my surprised gasp. I reached over to the bedside table and retrieved my phone, it was ten o’clock apparently.

“Zak...” I muttered, stroking the arm that was still draped over me. “Zak we need to get up.”

“Not now. Sleeping.” He murmured.

“Do you really want Nick and Aaron to have another reason to suspect something is going on?” I asked. “Because if we’re not ready to go within half an hour, they’re going to have a field day.”

“But I’m tired!” he whined.

“How are you tired?! We went to sleep at the same time and I’m fine!” I exclaimed

“....that’s what you think...”

I wasn’t actually that interested in whether he led awake for three hours after I went to sleep, he brought it on himself so I wasn’t about to be all that sympathetic.

“Well that’s your own fault then.” I sighed, “Now not that I’m complaining but would you please let me get out of bed? I don’t particularly intend on letting your tiredness delay us.”

I was released from his hold, I got up and changed into one of my many blue tops and jeans in the bathroom. When I came out Zak was sat on the edge of the bed rubbing his face with one hand, he actually looked really tired, I felt my heart sink slightly at my complaint towards him. I sat next to him and took one of his hands in my grasp.

“What’s up?” I asked. “And don’t say ‘I’m tired’ because I can see it’s more than that.”

“...it’s nothing you need to worry about.” He mumbled.

“Zak. Tell me.” I demanded, he looked at me for a few moments with a look of appreciation at my efforts to be supportive before replying.

“It’s just the things following me didn’t let me sleep much.”

“Oh...well...” I whispered. “...I don’t know what to suggest...”

“Don’t worry about it, worrying means they achieved what they set out to do.” He said with a faint smile on his face. “I’ll just take a nap or something this afternoon whilst we’re waiting for the sun to set.”

“...okay, well if you want I can see if Jay would...um help stave them off?”

“Haha, it’s okay. I’ll manage.” He replied, lightly squeezing my hand. “Now I suppose I ought to get dressed as we’re meant to be leaving in ten minutes.”

It only occurred to me now that he was topless, I was secretly proud of myself for not being distracted by his extremely attractive body like I had been in the past. After he got dressed and had spent the obligatory five minutes styling his hair with gel, we departed to meet up in reception with Nick, Aaron and Ringo. We actually arrived before them, which was quite funny, they eventually turned up and were quite surprised to see us there waiting.

“Wow...this is awkward.” Nick laughed. “So how long have you been waiting?”

“Only a few minutes.” I replied, crouching down and stroking Ringo.

“Ah okay, well I assume we’re all ready to go then!” Nick stated. “Who’s driving then?”

“I’ll drive dude.” Aaron replied. “Zak will you give me directions?”

Zak nodded and picked up one of the equipment bags. He clearly needed sleep and it was probably only a matter of time before Nick pulled me aside to ask what was wrong with him. We got the van loaded and the 50 minute drive to the inn went quickly, the brown stone building was situated on a road with houses either side of it. A paddock lay opposite the inn with horses in it, which sparked Ringo’s interest immediately after we got out of the van.

“Ringo sit.” I commanded, the puppy reluctantly sat but was clearly still focused on the horses that seemed uninterested in our presence.

“Right, let’s film the intro whilst we wait for the manager to meet us.” Zak announced.

Aaron and Nick kicked into autopilot it seemed as they plunged straight in the van to assemble the shoulder cameras that would record both the intro and the walkthrough. I pulled Ringo away from the paddock fence and waited with Zak as the cameras were set up. Finally Nick and Aaron were ready so we started recording;

“So we’re here in...uh...Abergavenny? Is that how you say it?” Zak started. “Anyway we’re in Wales somewhere at the Skirrid Mountain Inn, rumoured to be the oldest pub in Wales with history back in the 1100’s, during its time 180 criminals were sentenced in the courtroom above the bar here and we’re here to see if some of those criminals will make themselves known.”

Zak had been walking beside the pub as he spoke to Aaron’s camera. He continued rambling about some of the history whilst we waited on the manger of the pub to make an appearance, somehow along the way he ran out of things to say so guess where the cameras ended up pointing?

Yup. At me.

“Luna! How’s your time with the GAC been?” Nick asked, crouching down in front of me with the camera.

“It’s been....interesting...” I said. “Lots of activity...” I continued. “and plenty of evidence to back it up.”

“Oh yeah, would you mind counting off the pieces of evidence you’ve got on you right now? The scars I mean.”

I laughed. “Yeah okay, but I’ll need Zak’s help.” By this point Aaron had positioned himself to the side of me whilst Zak looked quite astounded that I was _actually_ going to show the scars I’ve gotten. “Okay, let’s go in the order of which I got them and where; I have 2 on my left arm from my first investigation at the DuVade mansion.” I displayed my left arm to Nick’s camera and pointed out the two faint lines running from near my elbow to my wrist.

“Then I got three on my neck from Preston Castle, where I met Jay.” I turned around and pulled my hair out of the way whilst Zak pointed out the dark lines stretching across at varying lengths to the camera. “And finally, the longest and the most recent, from the Ancient Ram Inn on my back.” I lifted my shirt up and Zak once again pointed to the scar in question.

“I honestly don’t know why she hasn’t taken off yet with all of these scars.” Aaron joked as I pulled my shirt back down.

“We _all_ know why she’s still here Aaron.” Nick said raising his eyebrows at Zak.

“Yeah you guys need to check out the Aaron’s vlogs from the past few days.” Aaron said to his camera. “There’s been _a lot_ of stuff happening behind the scenes.”

The manager finally made his appearance so we got started on the walkthrough. We were taken through the bar and briefly told that one of the many reports was glasses seemingly flying across the room during both busy and quiet times of business, faces are seen at the windows and finally about one of the notorious spirits of the inn. A barmaid who’s been named as Fanny Price has been said to haunt the ground floor, she reportedly died from alcohol consumption when she was around 30 years old, activity goes as far as cold spots and the sounds of rustling clothes.

“Okay, Luna put an ‘x’ on the floor here, we’ll make sure to try and capture some of these glasses moving.” Zak ordered. I had been given the task of putting the ‘x’s on the floor as I wasn’t really doing much else apart from keeping Ringo in tow of the walkthrough.

We moved swiftly to the main staircase where we stopped halfway up and were told about the hanging beam – where 182 criminals spent their last few seconds alive – there were friction burns still in the original beam where the wear and tear had gotten to it. According to legend, around this part of the pub people get the sensation of a noose being tied around their necks and then tightened slowly, although they are able to get free from these binds they report rope burns on their necks for days afterwards. I was ordered to put another x on the floor of the landing midway up the stairs.

We were then led to a guest room which was the old courthouse, people report of walking into the room to be greeted by an ‘icy blast’ of air followed by the constant feeling of being watched. Another ‘x’ was placed on the floor. Just before the walkthrough ended the manager said that there is a chance that some of our equipment could go missing during the investigation and turn up weeks later as it has done to previous guests, so we were advised to label every single thing that we had brought with us...which was a lot of things.

“Well thanks for the walkthrough, we’re going to start setting up and then we’ll wait for dusk!” Zak concluded, shaking the hand of the manager before they disappeared into their office.

“Well, who wants to do the labelling?” Nick asked, “It’s going to take a while.”

“I’ll start with the static night vision cameras then you, Nick, can go and set them up with Luna and then we’ll all do a fair share of the rest.” Aaron replied. Zak had mysteriously disappeared somewhere, something told me he was in the van now about to go to sleep but I wasn’t about to tell Nick this.

The next hour was spent tediously writing out the address of the GAC office on everything that we had brought with us after Nick and I had set up the static cameras. Zak’s whereabouts had been questioned several times but I pleaded ignorance, he needed sleep and I just felt that Nick and Aaron didn’t need to know at the moment. Ringo had been gnawing on a chicken bone that one of the kitchen staff gave him as a goodwill gesture to keep him happy until we were ready to start investigating.

“Ugh, done.” I sighed as I put the lid back on the sharpie and shoved the pile of digital recorders away from me.

“Hooray, just waiting for the EMF meters now.” Nick commented, he had just finished doing all the excess tapes, the non-contact thermometer and the video goggles along with the varying spirit boxes that they had in the silver flight-cases.

“Finally...agh...” Aaron moaned as he threw the pen he had been using into the box of EMF meters. “Where the hell has Zak been whilst we’ve been killing our hands doing this?”

“I don’t know...” Nick replied.

“...probably getting sleep.” I muttered.

“Huh?” Both Aaron and Nick asked.

“...he didn’t sleep well last night...apparently one of the spirits who follow him kept him up for at least three hours.” I explained.

“Oh...that’s happening again is it?” Aaron asked, the question was obviously more directed at Nick than me.

“Sounds like it...this can’t be good.” Nick replied.

“Care to share?” I asked.

“He hasn’t been kept up by spirits since the day after you left in January. The things that he told me it said were just...not good.” Nick answered. “Things that made all of us think about what we’re doing, when he found out that you had Jay he was actually really relieved, mainly because Jay seems to protect you from most things he can, which probably has prevented you from getting attacked in your sleep as much as you could’ve been.”

“...I see...” I murmured.

“I mean, that’s probably partly why Zak’s been without a girlfriend for quite a while, he needs someone who can handle the type of things that he goes through.” Aaron continued. “He doesn’t admit he’s having trouble most of the time, certainly not on camera, but he will talk to one of us if he’s had a troubling night.”

“...so what exactly did these spirits say? Like give me an example.”

Nick hesitated and looked to Aaron for help, “What do you think?” he asked

“You might as well dude.”

“Okay, they mostly threaten him and the people he cares about, or they just whisper nonsense at him.” Nick explained. “It doesn’t sound that bad but...”

“I know. I know what it’s like. I was trapped in a basement being told to suffer. I know at least a little bit of what it’s like.” I interrupted.

“...yeah...just don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine for tonight, especially as there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly dangerous here...except maybe the noose tying...but nothing demonic.”

We sat with our pile of equipment waiting for Zak to reappear from wherever he was sleeping, it seemed like we were sat there for nearly an entire day where it was actually only a few hours. It was 8:45 when Zak walked in on Nick and Aaron having thumb-wars with each other.

“Sleep well?” I whispered as he sat next to me.

“Better than last night anyway, the van isn’t exactly _that_ comfortable.” He replied.

“Well hopefully nothing too dramatic will happen tonight.” I said, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Yeah...hopefully.” he murmured. “Right let’s get ourselves sorted and then locked in guys.”

The semi-mad scramble to double check there were no people left in the building came and went, finally Zak was happy that we were the only living souls left other than the caretaker who was to lock us in.

“Okay then Dan, lock us in!” Zak commanded through the window at the man who locked the door with a clunk and then briskly walked off, leaving us in supposedly the oldest pub in the country.

“Well, we are now locked down in this...inn, a very old and historical inn.” Nick remarked.

“Yes, so let’s get ready to go dark.” Zak concluded. He led us to one of the storerooms near the kitchen where our base would be, here he ran down the locations of the static cameras once again and then decide on how we’d approach the lockdown.

“Are we splitting up at all?” Aaron asked, handing one of the cameras to me, guess I’d be doing a lot of the filming tonight.

“No, this building is too small and we’d contaminate each other’s EVP sessions.” Zak replied. “Turn off the lights and then we’ll start in the bar.”

Once we met in the bar area an EMF sweep was done which yielded no abnormal results so Nick started calling out to any spirits present; “Is there anyone here who’d like to speak to us tonight?”

Because the building was quite small Ringo wasn’t actually on his leash, which meant that someone had to have a vague idea of where he was at all times for evidential purposes, so Aaron, being the genius of an equipment tech that he is, strapped a small night vision camera to Ringo’s collar so we’d at least know where he was when it came to the analysis. It was actually a really good idea and no-one knows why we didn’t think of it sooner.

“Is there a woman called Fanny Price with us tonight?” Nick continued.

Silence. Zak reached over the bar and placed three glasses on the countertop and then drew a line in front of them in chalk before stepping back from them.

“Move one of these glasses.” He commanded.

Nothing happened. I silently called Jay to give me a hint about this place, he didn’t really feel like helping though...typical.

Not a lot was happening in this place, which was a nice change from the last location but it was still a little annoying. Zak placed his camera down on the counter facing the glasses and then told us we were going upstairs. We barely got to the landing where our static camera was placed when we all heard the shattering of glass. Ringo came bounding down the stairs towards us so it clearly wasn’t him, we rushed back into the bar area where we found all three glasses in several pieces on the floor and countertop. After initially checking that the counter wasn’t on a slope whilst Aaron rewound the footage we discovered that there was no natural way the glasses would’ve ended up in several pieces _all over_ the bar area.

“Oh my God dude...” Aaron gasped as he watched the footage. “This is weird...they literally seem to slide off the counter.”

We all crowded around and watched the 20 seconds of footage that showed the demise of three innocent pint glasses. As Aaron said; they literally looked as if they slipped off the surface, you could hear them shatter as they hit the floor but what was most perplexing about it was that in the video you could see shards of glass flying upwards, which may not seem too weird but when the floor underneath the barstools is carpet...it’s a little puzzling.

“Okay, so you’re here...” Zak called out. “Make a noise somewhere, touch one of us.”

A few moments after Zak said that Nick started complaining of goosebumps; “Whoa dude, I just got this crazy blast of energy...it’s freezing here...”

I then swore I heard something from the stairwell in the next room over, but I soon forgot it when I too got hit by a cold blast of air. It felt as if I was in a freezer for a few seconds, it passed by quickly though for me, Nick however was still cold apparently.

“Are you using my energy do try and communicate?” he asked.

A harsh voice then whispered in my ear; “ _...yes, find the dog..._ ”

I looked around through the LCD screen for Ringo, he wasn’t here, we then all heard him barking from the stairwell, he was in a lot of distress. We soon found out why; the static camera had been knocked over silently and was now resting at the bottom of the staircase.

“What the hell?” Zak exclaimed.

“No-one heard that fall over dude...” Aaron said.

So much had happened in such a short space of time, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this, was it a good thing or a bad thing? Either way it was certainly _something_...the question is...what?


	21. Shadows

**Shadows**

Aaron crouched down and examined the camera which was now led on its side, I decided to keep hold Ringo by his collar whilst we sorted this confusion out. Nick was doing an EMF sweep of the stairwell whilst Zak had gone back to the bar to finish trying to debunk the glasses falling and smashing earlier. The recent events had caused adrenaline rush through all of us, Zak certainly wasn’t tired anymore and Ringo was struggling against my grasp.

“Shh boy.” I murmured to the wriggling puppy. “Just sit tight for a while Ringo.”

“The camera doesn’t seem damaged Nick.” Aaron reported. “It’s really like someone put it on the ground in this way. It’s weird.”

“Well that’s kinda good then, is it still recording?” Nick replied.

“Yeah, what’s the EMF reading?”

“It’s low…hardly anything at all…” Nick answered. “It’s dead really, can anyone feel any cold spots?”

“Nope.” I replied.

“Me neither.” Aaron said. “Let’s find Zak.” The camera was placed back on the landing shooting the notorious hanging beam and we walked back into the bar in search of Zak. He had gathered up most of the pieces of glass and there was a pile of them now on the counter, from what I could see through the LCD screen he was looking slightly puzzled.

“I still don’t get how they moved by themselves.” He sighed. “Do something else, let us know you’re definitely here!” he demanded of the air.

We stood in silence, Ringo wrestled against my hold on him and I eventually let him go after a period of time passed with no reaction to Zak’s demand. Nick suggested that we go back to the staircase and do an EVP session under the hanging beam, there wasn’t much going on around the bar anymore anyway so we did so. The hanging beam was right above the landing which out static camera sat on; the friction burns from 182 hangings could be seen clearly even in infrared lighting. A shiver ran down my spine as I imagined each convict dropping to their death right above us – the feeling in the stairwell was a little uncomfortable.

“Are there any criminals here with us tonight?” Nick asked, “If so make your presence known to one of us.”

There didn’t seem to be a response, I sat down on the top step and filmed Nick and Zak whilst Aaron took Nick’s camera from him and proceeded to film up the stairs at me. The questions kept being asked with no obvious response. I still felt uncomfortable, I didn’t like that the hallway stretched out from beside me and I could hardly see down it. A couple of times I thought I heard something from down the hallway but I didn’t say anything, it could just be down to adrenaline, and as Jay wasn’t feeling particularly co-operative I decided not to dwell on it too much.

“You know, there’s that age old stereotype that Welshmen do horrible things to sheep…” Zak started.

I sighed as I knew where this was going, that it was a bad idea on so many levels.

“And apparently the first person hanged here was tried on a count of sheep-stealing…not doing yourselves any favours…”

“Zak.” I stated my voice low and hushed. “Don’t.”

“Why?” he genuinely seemed confused.

“Zak. Think about it, that stereotype…I know you use provocation but there is a time and place for everything – this is not it.”

All three of them looked up at me in silence; it was almost comical, _almost._

“Uh…well…sorry?” Zak replied, rubbing the back of his head. “Any other ideas on how to get them to respond then?”

“What were your last thoughts before you were hanged?” I called out in reply to Zak’s question.

The noises from down the hallway were getting louder…or closer… I tried to put them out of my mind as I panned the camera up and focused on the hanging beam. I wasn’t too sure where Ringo was but whatever I was hearing was certainly not my puppy. The first thing that came to mind was something being dragged but I didn’t want to consider what could possibly be making that noise.

“Were you innocent? Falsely accused?” I continued. “Or were you guilty and got what you deserved?”

Everything stopped. The noises stopped. All I could hear was our breathing and the occasional shuffle from the guys, it then began to get cold around me.

“…guys do you feel cold?” I asked.

“No, why?” Nick answered.

“It’s getting cold up here…”

Nick carefully made his way up the stairs and stood behind me. “Wow…there is definitely a temperature drop up here….” He muttered. “Zak, Aaron get up here.”

The other two guys made their way up to the top of the staircase, I stood up and found my bearings, the cold air remained lingering around us and couldn’t be debunked easily. There were no open windows or doors, the building was solid and didn’t have any substantial structural damage that would cause heavy drafts, also the coldness seemed to be _hovering_ around the bannister of the stairs.

“What the…” Zak whispered as he felt around the area. “Aaron what does the thermometer read?”

“It’s wavering around 43…the outside temp was around 55 before we started.” Aaron replied after waving the noncontact thermometer around a bit. “This part over here is around 53…and that isn’t the cold spot…”

“I’m just assuming this is all in Fahrenheit…” I muttered, having an English education had its disadvantages sometimes, I didn’t understand all these conversions with Fahrenheit and Celsius, all I knew was that 32 Fahrenheit was zero Celsius.

“Yeah, basically it’s not normal.” Zak remarked.

“I gathered that much Zachary.” I replied. “I was the one who was sat there getting cold.”

He laughed slightly, so glad he was more-less back to normal. It was weird having a lethargic Zak around, very weird. The cold spot didn’t seem to be moving at all, which was a good thing as it gave us some kind of activity to focus our efforts on other than the mysterious glass smashing.

“Are you the one who is making it cold here?” Nick asked.

The shuffling in the hallway started again, I pointed the camera down the hallway to actually see what was going on. Typically; nothing was there. None of the guys reacted to it so maybe I was just going crazy...which wouldn’t surprise me really.

“We can feel you, say something or touch one of us.” Zak demanded.

Silence, nothing other than the cold spot even suggested that there was someone else was here with us. I highly doubted that convicts would _speak_ to us, more like attack one of us...like me, then again I wasn’t the one who was stereotyping so I was probably safer...

“I’m not feeling it anymore...” Nick muttered. “It’s gone.”

He was right, the cold spot had dissipated. We all remained standing in silence around the top of the stairs, as if in anticipation of something yet to come. Ringo quietly padded his way up the steps and joined us from downstairs, I noticed he kept staring down the hallway that I kept hearing shuffling from. Once again I panned my camera down there, I swear I saw a slight shadow disappearing around a corner.

“Guys...what’s down this corridor?” I whispered, the camera still focused on the corner where I saw the shadow.

“..Uh..the old courthouse I think..” Zak replied “Why?”

“I’ve been hearing shuffling from down there and I think I just saw a shadow dart around the corner.”

As soon as the last word left my mouth Zak was already off down the hallway, closely followed by Aaron, Nick gestured for me to follow suit as Ringo bounded after them. They rounded the corner and into the guest room that was once the courthouse where the criminals were sentenced. The first thing that was noticeable was the sudden temperature drop – it was _freezing_ cold, like mid-winter conditions, it would probably be perfect temperature for snow.

“What the fu-” I mumbled. “It’s so freakin’ cold...” I shivered.

“You okay?” Zak asked, suddenly next to me and placing his warm arm around my shoulders and pulling me slightly towards him.

“Yeah, just cold.” I replied, trying to ignore the urge to just fall into his chest. “What’s the temperature in here Aaron?”

“...oh my God...it’s like 41...” Aaron exclaimed. “That’s about 5 Celsius...”

It felt like it, it really did. I was pretty sure that I would've been able to see my breath had it not been pitch black in this room, no instead I was peering through to LCD screen at the furniture in the room, mainly the guest bed as it was right in front of me.

Nick slid past me and started doing the ever-so-predictable EVP session where nothing would reply outwardly. “Is there anyone in here with us? Anyone at all?”

As I expected; there was no reply, although there could always be something being picked up on the digital recorder that we just can't hear at the moment. Either way there wasn’t a single noise made in the room other than our breathing, it was slightly annoying to say the least.

“If you’re in here I want you to make your presence known this instant!” Zak demanded

The feeling in the room started changing, subtly at first, but I soon felt the sensation of constantly being watched, and not in the over-protective way Zak watches me, the feeling that you get in those dreams where you end up in school naked kind of watched. It was unsettling, especially when it’s mixed the coldness we all felt.

Other than that there wasn’t a response to Zak. He had started pacing the room in frustration at no replies, Aaron was patiently filming him doing so, Ringo had since decided it was sleep time and was settling down on the bed whilst Nick has wandered off into the room next to this one.

“Come on! We know you’re here!” Zak suddenly shouted.

“Zak don’t start yelling...” I sighed quietly, he probably didn’t hear me.

“Show yourself! Attack one of us! Use our energy! Do it!” he continued. I had forgotten _how_ much he uses provocation sometimes.

I simply looked at Aaron through my LCD screen who was shaking his head at our leader, probably because if anyone was going to get attacked it would be him...possibly.

“Okay...there’s probably nothing here Zak...” I commented, the feeling of being watched was getting a little too much for me now.

“No. Something’s here, I’m sure of it.” He stated.

I sighed. Zak was beginning to get a little bit irritating. I turned around, searching the room for some kind of release, I saw someone peering around the door, assuming it was Nick I started walking towards them. When I actually heard Nick behind me somewhere, apparently the two rooms were connected via a door. In the few seconds it took me to whip around and see him stood next to Zak and then turn back to the door... _it_ was gone.

“But...but..” I muttered. “...what the actual fuck was that?” I snapped.

“What?” Aaron asked.

“I swear to God that there was someone peering around the door...I thought it was Nick.” I replied. I wasn’t going to wait for Zak though as I ran out of the room in pursuit of this thing. The corridor stretched out in front of me with various doors on either side of it, I opened each door as I went along searching for it, I could hear Zak and Nick’s confused yells as they followed me. The camera shook in my hand as I opened the last door to reveal another staircase.

“I thought this building only had two floors?” I muttered, my legs were quickly turning to jelly beneath me as I ascended the stairs, whatever I was chasing wasn’t getting away from me that easily.

A musty attic panned out in front of me, I was panting heavily as I forced myself to step onto one of the loose floorboards. Through the camera I could see that there wasn’t anyone up here with me, no-one at all. I refused to acknowledge that I was alone.

“Okay, so you must think you’re pretty smart for making me think you were Nick...” I sighed, taking another step further into the attic. “Well, I'm up here now so what do you want?”

Silence. At least it was warm up here, although the feeling of being watched had intensified.

“Did Zak annoy you in anyway? Is that why you chose me? Or were you just looking for someone to communicate with?” I continued.

“... _help..._ ” a faint whisper emanated from somewhere to my left. I spun around and focused on the torn insulation that was spread around between the floorboards.

“Did you say something?” I asked. “Speak louder if you can.”

Nothing else was said, I scanned the attic with the camera and nothing came up as abnormal. There was still a feeling of being watched in the air but it was fading ever so slightly.

“Hello? Are you still here?”

“ _...please...help.._ ” it was such a faint whisper that I almost didn’t hear it.

“Are you in pain?” I asked, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Nothing else seemed to be occurring other than this voice, I was also wondering where the guys were and why I hadn’t heard them calling for me.

A few minutes passed with no other whispers or mutters being heard, I decided to go and find the guys and tell them what had happened. I got out of the attic and walked back to the guest room we were previously in, they weren’t there .I was a little confused but I made my way to the main staircase under the hanging beam – thinking they would be downstairs, as I made my way down I stopped for some reason one step above the midway landing. Then I felt it; something being tied around my neck...something like rope...

“Zak...” I muttered as my throat was squeezed tighter. My free hand flew up to my neck and tried to scrap away the rope...there was nothing there yet my airways were being forced closed. “Someone...anyone...” I groaned as I fought the invisible rope.

Distantly I could hear someone approaching but I didn’t find out who it was as my legs fell out from underneath me and I hit my head on the banister as I fell down, knocking me into a daze.

“Luna! Oh my God, Aaron! Nick!” I heard his distressed voice as the pain in my head numbed and I slipped into unconsciousness.


	22. True Colours

**True Colours**

When I woke up the first thing that was obvious was that my head hurt, so did my neck but my head felt like it had been hit with a brick. I blinked a few times and my eyes focused in the dimly lit room; I appeared to be in our base, Nick was sat looking blankly at one of the laptop screens, Aaron, Zak and Ringo were nowhere to be seen.

“Wha...what happened..?” I groaned as I sat up from where I had been lying across three dining chairs.

“Oh good you’re awake.” Nick responded as he got up and then knelt on the floor in front of me. “How are you feeling?” He asked, his eyes level with mine.

“My head is pounding...” I mumbled. “Where’s Zak?”

“He’s trying to figure out what happened to you with Aaron. I have no idea where Ringo is though.” Nick replied quietly. “Shall I get you some ice for your head?”

I nodded, he left the room. I felt around my neck, it didn’t feel swollen in anyway, just hot. I wasn’t sure what to make of this sudden development. One thing I was sure of was that I wanted Zak to come and hug me, I wanted him to know I was alright at least.

Nick returned with an ice-pack, my aching head immediately felt better once I put the cold packet to the lump forming. He then picked up a pen and pad of paper and sat in front of me.

“Right, can you tell me what happened from when you ran out of the guest room?” he asked.

“Uh...I thought I saw you peering around the main door...but it wasn’t you...I then followed it...” I mumbled, the images flashing through my mind. “..I-I ended up in the attic...I kept hearing this whispering, I don’t know what it was but after a while it stopped...”

Nick was hastily writing what I assumed to be what I was saying on the notepad, nodding and glancing up at me every few moments. “Okay, so then what happened?”

“I went back to the guest room where you guys were...obviously you weren’t there...so I started walking down the stairs...and...” my voiced hitched in my throat, I wanted to stop but I knew I had to continue. “I felt it...tighten..and it wouldn’t stop...i-I tried to get it off but there wasn’t anything there..”

“Right...”

“My legs then fell out from underneath me...and...I just...I heard Zak calling...” tears were starting to form in my eyes.

“Okay...okay.” Nick calmly replied, dropping the pen and paper on the floor before hugging me.  “It’s okay...”

“...c-can you go and get Zak...please?” I murmured. I just needed him, I didn’t care about our little contest anymore, I just needed him close to me now.

“Yeah sure, I’ll be two seconds.” Nick replied, leaving the room. Zak came through the door less than a minute later, he looked caught between worry and relief. He sat down on the chair next to me and took my free hand in his.

“You okay?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“I think so...” I mumbled, linking our fingers together. “I just...”

“What?”

“...hold me...please.” I whispered, placing the icepack on the chair beside me.

He hesitated for a moment before wrapping his arms around me gently, I suddenly felt safer in his arms, even if it hurt my neck a little. I buried my face in his chest as I tried to make sense of what had happened to me, his breathing was slow and steady. We sat in silence for a while, I think Aaron and Nick came back from wherever they had been at some-point and just sat around – I couldn’t see though as I was still recovering from my experience whilst encased in Zak’s arms.

“Let me see your neck...” he murmured after a while. “Please?”

I nodded and pulled back, I collected my hair into a ponytail and held it up whilst Zak’s fingers traced the area of slight bruising running around my neck. He silently took out a digital camera and started taking photos of it for evidential purposes, Nick and Aaron gave me half-worried half-reassuring smiles as he did so.  Eventually he pulled me back into a hug, a little tighter than the original, he placed my face next to his ear and slid me onto his lap.

“It’s okay...” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. “I won’t force you to continue anymore if you don’t want to.”

“...I..just think I need a bit more time...” I uttered, wrapping my arms lightly around his torso. “Just...a little while...then maybe...”

“Only when you’re ready, but I need to get back to investigating...Nick can stay here with you if you want...or Aaron.” Zak replied.

“I don’t mind, I just don’t want to be alone.” I murmured.

“Okay...okay..” he whispered, sighing into my neck which briefly eased the pain. He let me go and slipped me off his lap, he gave me one last smile of encouragement as he went over to Nick. “Right, we’re going back to that staircase.” He stated. “Aaron will you stay here with her?”

“Sure dude, I’ll start looking through the evidence we have already.” Aaron replied.

“Okay.” Zak said, stepping a little closer to Aaron. “If anything happens to her, anything else...you yell okay? Yell like the building’s on fire – got it?” he said in a hushed tone.

“Yeah, of course dude.”

Zak and Nick left with freshly charged batteries in their equipment, Aaron sat a few feet away from me at a table with a lot of equipment on it, for a few moments he sat and did nothing but rub his face in exhaustion.

“Do you want any ice for your neck?” he asked.

“...I had one for my head...but it’s all warm now...” I mumbled, my eyes fixated on the floor. My mind wasn’t focusing properly; it kept flashing back to the moments before I blacked out when I heard Zak yelling, then it would be like I was being strangled again I could almost feel the rope against my skin.

“Shall I get another one?” Aaron asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“...yeah..sure...” My answers were becoming vague again, probably a side effect of a concussion I was likely to be suffering from, come to think of it...I did feel rather sick. “Actually can you get me a bucket? I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Aaron raced off to find me a bucket of some sort, I could feel my stomach tightening as I got closer and closer to vomiting. Thankfully Aaron made it back in time for the inevitable to happen, I didn’t throw up a lot...but it was enough to make me feel drained afterwards.

“Ugh...fun.” I remarked faintly. “..what time is it Aaron?”

“Half one I think.” He replied, “Should I empty the bucket?”

“No...I might need it again shortly...I need to lie down.”

Aaron found me someone’s jacket – I think it was Nick’s – to use as a pillow and then a jacket of Zak’s for a blanket, I led across the three dining chairs I had woken up on, not intending to go to sleep but to at least avoid throwing up again. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours, I didn’t feel any better at all, this reminded me of the time I spent a week off school with the flu only with more headaches and less coughing. Nick suddenly appeared above me.

“Wow...you look rough...” he muttered, feeling my forehead. “You’re burning up too...”

“Yay...I’ve caught some ghost disease...” I sighed, closing my eyes, the darkness welcomed me with open arms until Nick interrupted our reunion. “Don’t fall asleep, I’ll get Zak.”

“You do that...” I mumbled. Some period of time passed and then Zak’s worried expression came into view, he brushed his hand against my face gently and muttered something to Nick before kneeling on the floor next to me.

“How are you feeling?” he whispered.

“Crap.” I replied. “I have no concept of time... my neck hurts... and my head hurts...”

“...you’re not looking healthy at all sweetheart...” he murmured, stroking my face. “I’m seriously thinking of ending the investigation early so you can go to sleep.”

“No...you need your evidence...don’t worry about me..” I muttered, I’m not going to be held responsible for them ending an investigation early again.

“My friend’s wellbeing comes before my evidence, we’re going to find that puppy of yours and then we’re going back to the hotel where you are going to take some pills and then sleep.” He stated, “Nick and Aaron are already packing down slowly whilst looking for Ringo.”

“...fine...” I replied. It seemed pointless trying to negotiate now.

Another period of time passed, during which I stared at the ceiling whilst everything was packed down around me, Ringo found his way back to me and was licking my hand which was hanging over the side of the chairs. Eventually Nick came and helped me sit up slowly before standing on my rather shaky legs,

“Can you walk?” he asked.

“I believe so..” I muttered, steadying myself against him. “How far is it to the van?”

“Someone could carry you if you want.” He said, not really answering my question.

“I’m a rather independent woman Nick. Answer my damn question.” I almost snapped, maybe I was getting back to normal slowly.

“Just out front.” He sighed.

“Okay, I think I can make it out there.” I declared. After a few wobbly steps I managed to get myself outside into the summer air, the van had been backed up close to the door and Aaron was just closing the back door. Zak was explaining the situation to Dan the caretaker whilst Nick helped me get into the back seat where Ringo had since ran ahead of me to get to.

“Zak’s demanded that I drive so he can sit in the back with you.” He said, giving me his jacket for a pillow or blanket should I need it. I nodded in reply and sat patiently waiting for Zak to get into the van. Aaron sat in the front passenger seat and started giving Nick instructions on how to get back to our hotel, I felt dizzy again, thankfully not sick, I don’t think my stomach actually had anything left in it to throw up, I was starving.

Zak eventually joined me in the back seat, once he strapped himself in he gently pulled me to rest on his shoulder, I struggled to keep my eyes open. I distantly remember hearing him mutter something about a camera to Nick and Aaron, I didn’t think much of it until I heard him whispering something that could only be a narration for the TV show.

“Okay, we’ve had to end the investigation early because Luna got attacked really badly and she’s quite shaken up, she hit her head and might have a concussion, so we, Nick, Aaron and myself, agreed to end it as she wasn’t able to continue.” His voice was low and hushed. “So we’re driving back to the hotel and hopefully she’ll be alright after a good night’s sleep.”

I shuffled closer to him, or as close as the seatbelt would allow, he stopped whispering to the camera and I felt his arm move slightly to accommodate me. I felt really sleepy and wanted to just let the darkness swallow me up but I knew that I’d just get woken up in less than an hour anyway.

**~ Half an hour later ~**

The drive back to the hotel was shorter than the drive to the lockdown, it felt like hours though, I had to shake myself every few minutes to make sure I was awake. Zak had taken to lightly stroking my hand that was resting on my thigh, it was keeping me somewhat awake. Nick pulled into the hotel parking lot and found a parking space, Zak muttered something to both Nick and Aaron and then promptly picked me up.

“Shh...let’s get you upstairs, the others are taking care of the equipment.” He whispered as I went to protest.

I didn’t resist, I was too tired and too dizzy to argue or anything, plus I wasn’t exactly against the idea of him carrying me upstairs. He softly put me onto the bed in our room and left to find some aspirin whilst I changed, it was an agonising process, my head was aching like heck, my neck hurt whenever I moved at all and I was too tired to move most of the time anyway. After a while I slipped under the covers, forcing myself to sit up and wait for Zak to get back with something to ease my pain.

“Okay, drink some water and take these.” He whispered, putting a glass of water in one of my hands and two white pills in the other. “Then sleep. I’ll be going to bed soon anyway, just try and rest.” He rested his forehead against mine briefly before backing off and walking into the bathroom.

I took a sip of water gingerly, paranoid that I’d start throwing up again, and then swallowed the dry pills, it hurt to swallow. I let my body slip down further under the covers, the soft sheets encasing me from the outside elements, my eyes started closing and I was drifting in and out of sleep. The lights went off in the room, signalling that Zak was about to join me in bed, one moment there was nothing but bed sheets around me, the next he had pulled me close to him – so close I could feel his heartbeat through my shirt. I turned around so I was facing him, I felt safer and more comfortable this way. He stroked my jaw-line lightly and then my bruised neck, he then put his lips to my forehead before telling me to get some sleep.

I finally gave in to my body’s wish to sleep, the darkness swallowed me up but it was a warm darkness, the familiar kind that welcomes you after a hectic day...or in my case...hectic night.


	23. A staged intervention

**A staged intervention**

If I have had a worse night’s sleep before this one I must not remember it, anytime I moved I felt the sharp pang of my neck muscles screaming at me. Yes I fell asleep pretty quickly whilst wrapped up in Zak’s arms but eventually I woke up for reasons unknown to me, it was too painful to move and it was also too painful to simply fall asleep again. I had been led staring at the ceiling for a while now, with only Zak’s steady breathing keeping me from going crazy in the silence. Half of me wanted to wake him up so he could comfort me but the other half wanted me to let him sleep considering he had a rough night before hand...

“Zak?” I whimpered, forcing my body to turn onto my side so I would face him, regardless of the searing pain in my neck.

He stirred slightly before his eyes slowly opened, for a moment he looked confused but then seemed to remember what had happened last night. He reached up and his hand brushed against my cheek, I leaned into his hand and sighed quietly.

“You okay?” he whispered, stroking his thumb over my cheekbone.

“...my neck hurts...I’m tired and I can’t sleep.” I replied quietly.

“...how’s your head?”

“Hurts a little...but I think I’m more or less back to normal.”

“Good...that’s good...” he whispered. “So do you wanna get up or something?”

“No...I’m quite happy here...I was just slowly going crazy in the silence.”

He laughed slightly before sitting up, he rubbed his hands over his face, I too would’ve sat up if I could guarantee my neck not feeling like was being stabbed with a knife. Instead I rolled over onto my stomach slowly and leaned on my elbows, he ran a hand through his hair and looked at me with a small smile on his face, not a smirk, a smile, it made me feel weird, a good kind of weird...like a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Whilst I was caught in his smile he reached down and gently pulled at my arm, I let him take my elbows out from under me and pull me up so I was resting on his chest; it was rising steadily with each breath that he took. He lightly stroked my hair as I started melting back into the familiar darkness, my thoughts were still a little jumbled so I assumed that I just needed some more sleep.

**~*~**

Voices woke me up but I didn’t open my eyes, I wanted to hear what they were discussing before I let them know I was awake again;

“Dude…are you sure about what you’re doing?” One said, I think it was Nick but I wasn’t sure.

“Yeah, I don’t see why I wouldn’t be.” Zak replied,

“…are you sure it’s safe?” the other said.

“She’s a sensible girl, she wouldn’t do anything stupid.”

“Yeah but…what about what _you_ do?” the other replied. “I mean you use provocation a lot and it could backfire onto her.”

“I know, but I think she can handle it.”

“She just got attacked last night and possibly has a concussion, I don’t call that handling it.”

“Give her time, she’ll be fine.”

“What about emotionally?” the other muttered, as if in defeat.

I felt Zak sigh heavily. “Well when she’s recovered from her latest experience I’ll talk to her.”

“ _We’ll_ talk to her, all three of us.”

“Fine.”

I heard footsteps out of the room and a door shutting, I then felt Zak stroking my face gently, I figured now’s a good a time as any. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times. “Zak?” I murmured.

“Hey…” he whispered back. “How are you feeling?”

“…alright I guess…my headache is slowly going away…” I replied slowly.

“Good…do you want some more painkillers?”

“No…they make me feel sleepy, I don’t want to sleep anymore, I want to get up.”

“You sure? Your neck is still quite bruised.”

“Zak, stop questioning my actions.” I laughed. “Help me get up please?” I looked at him, he swallowed before nodding.

My neck wasn’t in too much pain anymore, it still hurt whenever I turned my head but for the most part it was fine, with Zak’s help I got out of bed after something like twelve hours of laying still. I was still shaky on my legs but I managed to support myself well enough.

“I’m going to take a shower.” I declared. “No I don’t need your help.” I said with a smirk.

“O-okay, um…I’ll be in Nick and Aaron’s room then…uh...yell if you need anything.” Zak replied hesitantly.

“Will do.” I walked into the bathroom and started the flow of water, as I waited for the water to warm up I looked at myself in the mirror; parts of my neck were bruised quite badly and would take weeks to heal over, my face was pale and I had dark circles under my eyes. On the whole I was looking ‘rough’ as Nick told me last night…or this morning…

I undressed and stepped under the luke-warm water, it was heavenly, my sore muscles were soothed by the cascading water. I spent a long time in the shower, I started picking up on Jay’s presence which had been somewhat lacking the past few hours…or at least I thought it had been.

“ _…you okay?”_ he asked quietly.

“I think so Jay…” I sighed, talking to him was now second nature, I forgot sometimes that he was a spirit and not a human anymore. It was also quite weird how he spoke almost perfectly…as in not broken up sentences, as far as I knew it was unheard of in the paranormal field to have this kind of communication constantly.

“… _sorry I wasn’t there…”_ He continued.

“Where were you?” I asked, running my hands through my wet hair.

“ _…protecting the one you love…_ ” he whispered.

“…what?”

“ _…I was protecting Zak.”_

Oh dear goodness…he had overheard what I said to Zak yesterday about him being protected by Jay…and he also thought I was head over heels in love with Zak.

“Oh…from what?”

“… _the thing that attacked you…_ ”

“Jay…I…I don’t know what to say…” I stuttered, turning the water off.

“ _…Did I do something wrong?”_ he sounded a little hurt.

“No…god no...”

“ _...so you’re not angry?”_

“No of course not Jay, I’m just a little shocked that you didn’t tell me, I would’ve been more cautious if I knew.” I got out of the shower and dried myself. “I don’t blame you for what happened though Jay.” I ran my hand over one of the darker bruises.

“… _okay…”_

“Jay…um…could you possibly…well only if you want to…but…I was just wondering if you could show yourself to us maybe later today..” I stuttered. “I want to know what you look like and I’m sure the others do too.”

“ _…maybe…_ ”

And just like that, he was gone again. I got dressed and plaited my damp hair, I took one last look in the mirror at my bruised neck before stepping out of the bathroom. Ringo bounded straight into me which caused me to slump against the wall with him barking happily and licking my arms.

“Hey boy.” I said, sitting on the floor and ruffling his fur, he continued excitedly nuzzling my face. The love my puppy gives me certainly is one thing that keeps me going during these days. “You’re such a good boy.” I said resting my forehead against his fur.

He calmed down and slumped across my lap, his head resting against my stomach. I tickled his ear as I relaxed against the wall. So much for going to find the others, I sat there with him across my lap for a while, absentmindedly stroking his fur and listening to him pant from the summer heat, I started drifting back to sleep when I heard the door open.

“You okay?”

“Yeah…” I mumbled, looking up, it was Nick.

“Sure?”

“Yeah, my neck hurts, my head has gotten better but still hurts.”

“…so other than that?”

“Yeah…fine.”

“How are you emotionally and mentally?” He asked, sitting down on the floor across from me.

I wasn’t sure why he wanted to know details but I just shrugged and continued stroking Ringo. “I guess I’m still trying to figure out what attacked me…why it attacked me…” I mumbled.

“Aaron’s been looking through the footage on the static camera we had there.” He replied “Zak’s busy looking at it too, I’d thought I’d check on you.”

I nodded, “…apparently Jay was protecting Zak so he couldn’t help me…”

“Really? He said that?”

“Yeah…” I felt my cheeks redden slightly.

“…so emotionally?”

“I’m a little shaken up I guess…”

He reached across Ringo, took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Well if we weren’t going to take a few days before the next investigation we are certainly are now. We all agree that we need to unwind a little.”

I nodded again. Ringo was slowly falling asleep on me and I was starting to get a pins and needles sensation in my legs. I eventually gently slid him off onto the floor and stood up, Nick ruffled the fur on Ringo’s head before standing up too.

“Any idea what time it is?” I asked as I walked towards the door.

“About four.” He replied after glancing at his phone. “I think I have to go and find us some food, but I’ll check with Zak first.”

I opened the door to the other room and found Aaron and Zak having an intense staring contest with the laptop when all of a sudden they jumped up at the exact same time;

“Oh my God did you see that?!” Zak exclaimed jabbing his finger at the screen.

“Yeah…god what _was_ that?” Aaron replied.

“What was what?” I asked.

They both looked up, somewhat surprised at the sudden presence of Nick and I. Aaron instantly looked at my bruised neck and raised his eyebrows, I simply looked back, waiting for an answer.

“We were just watching the footage from last night, right before you walked down the stairs and got….attacked…the camera picked up on something.” Zak explained, pointing vaguely at the screen. “Have a look and see if you can spot it.”

I turned the laptop around so I could actually see the screen. From what I could see; the camera was pointed up the staircase with the hanging beam in clear view, the upper landing and its railing near centre frame. The seconds passed and nothing seemed to happen, my mind was beginning to wander when something caught my eye near the infamous hanging beam. A flickering shape, that didn’t really look like anything, was hovering near it, it soon took the appearance of  a black mass – well blob – and ‘glided’ over the stairs before dissipating. A few moments later I saw myself walk down the same steps it had just disappeared over and then the attack that was all too fresh in my mind.

“I...I...that was…” I stuttered, my eyes glued to the screen. “…what was it?”

Zak and Aaron looked at each other hesitantly, then to Nick who seemed a little stunned still, he leaned forward and replayed the clip several times, concentration cast on his face.

“It forms under the beam, definitely hovers…as if it was thinking…” he mumbled, as he pointed to the screen. “Did we get any audio?”

“Nope, all we got was us walking down a few moments before hand, then the visual hit and finally Luna.” Zak replied.

My eyes remained trained on the screen as it looped the clip, I couldn’t tell what I felt but maybe it wasn’t trying to be malicious? After all not _all_ spirits we came across were evil as such…maybe this one just thought that it was the best way to get a point across…

I must’ve looked deep in thought as I felt a light nudge in the shoulder from Nick, all eyes were trained on me, obviously they wanted to know what my thoughts were on this footage. So I told them, maybe it wasn’t a malicious spirit? Maybe it just misunderstood what we meant by communicating with us? They seemed to accept my theory for the most part.

“Still doesn’t really explain that kind of stuff happening…” Zak sighed, rubbing his forehead. “It just…Agh…”

“Something bugging you?” I asked.

“It just… we need food…” he replied. “Go and get us some food Aaron?”

“Why me?” Aaron exclaimed. “Get Nick to do it.”

“Just…please? You can get a Starbucks or something we just need food.”

Aaron grumbled slightly and waited for Zak to hand him the room key and some money before leaving quietly.

“I thought I was meant to be the one getting us food?” Nick asked as he sat in Aaron’s vacant seat.

“You were, but now seems a good a time as any to have that conversation you were talking about.” Zak replied, looking from Nick to me. My earlier assumption of Nick being the one in our room was confirmed by this.

“…so…what do you wanna talk about?” I asked, leaning against the door.

Zak sighed heavily and looked to Nick before answering. “…how do you feel about what has happened?”

“…about the attack or..?”

“Just doing this in general.”

“…I love it. I’m having a great time investigating…but the attacks are quite terrifying.” I replied slowly, unsure of how to word everything. “And you guys are fun to hang out with.”

“Okay. Well…uh..” Zak murmured.

“How do you feel about being attacked?” Nick interrupted.

“Absolutely terrified.” I bluntly said. “But at the same time it’s a little exciting that they chose to contact me like that….I…obviously violently and it’s b-bloody scary but…” I stuttered.

They looked at each other. “So you’re fine with continuing?” Zak asked, looking me straight in the eye.

“Why the hell wouldn’t I be?” I asked. “I mean, it’s been a dream of mine to explore the paranormal. So I get attacked a few times along the way…pain means evidence so I’m mostly fine with it.”

They didn’t seem to share my thoughts, Zak looked as if I had just hit him with a wet fish, and Nick just sat there with his raised eyebrows, elbows resting on the hand-rests of the chair.

“Is this a problem?” I asked.

“…well…I kinda expected a little bit more…hesitation…” Zak muttered, staring at the floor.

“Why? Because something attacked me? I just wanna know why, that’s why I wanted to go back to Preston Castle after I got attacked there. Half of me wants me to go back there but the other half of me doesn’t.” I explained. “It made contact, isn’t that what we wanted?”

“I didn’t want you to get hurt though.” Zak said loudly, eyes fixed on the floor. “It should’ve been me not you. You don’t deserve to be their punching bag.”

I stared at him in shock. I then looked to Nick who was equally as confused as I was. “…what do you mean?”

“You shouldn’t be the one taking pain for my provocation.” He murmured. “I mean I don’t like it when they attack Nick or Aaron, but they have had it happen plenty of times before and they know the risks of this. You’re just…different.”

“I _do_ know the risks Zak…” I said. “And in-case it slipped your attention; I have 6 scars already.”

“And they’re all because of my provocation.”

“No they’re not.” I snapped, standing up straight. “They’re because of spirits wanting to communicate. I mean I wouldn’t of found Jay if he hadn’t ‘attacked’ me.”

“I put you in that room to start with.”

“Guys calm down…” Nick’s soothing voice cutting through the building tension in the room.

“But I didn’t resist.” I fired back, ignoring Nick.

“That’s because I gave you no option to.”

“Zak please….just stop.” I sighed. I was getting more upset than angry over this. I didn’t want him blaming himself for everything happening to me, it just _did_ with no real warning.

“No. I put you in these situations and I want you to seriously think about what you’re doing.” He said, nearly shouting. “I don’t want you doing anything I tell you in a split second if you are scared or uncomfortable with it.”

“I won’t!” I exclaimed. “Trust me Zak, if there is ever a point where I don’t want to do something, I _will_ tell you.”

He fell silent, still staring at the floor he got up and went into our room, slamming the door behind him. I sighed heavily and looked to Nick. “You were in our room this morning weren’t you?” I asked.

“…yeah. Trying to convince him to talk to you about all these attacks.” He replied.

“I see…how do you think that went?”

“…how I expected to be honest…I think he probably wants you to take a long and hard think about this.” He answered. “I thought he’d be a little more lenient though.”

“…the ever-unpredictable Zak Bagans…” I muttered, staring at the closed door. This was going to take a while to smooth out.


	24. Nick's perfect timing

**Nick's perfect timing**

I spent the rest of the day cautiously avoiding Zak, I needed to let him calm down before talking to him again about this, that and I also needed to get my own thoughts straight. Aaron returned with what looked like pizza and about six coffees, although he informed us that he had already had two before he got back. Zak had decided he was going to take a three-hour long shower so that left Nick, Aaron and myself to eat the pizza and drink coffee.

“Any idea what I should be doing about this?” I asked them.

“Probably thinking about whether it’s a good idea to continue doing this?” Nick suggested.

“I’m pretty convinced that it is. I just need to convince Zak of that.”

“Good luck with that.” Aaron sighed.

“Which is why I’m asking you guys, you’ve known him long enough to give me _some kind_ of hint right?” They simply looked at each other and shook their heads. “…you’re kidding…right?”

“Nope. We’ve never had to convince him of something this…important.” Nick replied.

“Well…that’s helpful…” I sighed.

We sat in silence. Ringo was begging for a bit of pepperoni at Aaron’s feet when Zak came in with his hair still damp form his shower. He took a slice of pizza without saying anything or looking at any of us before walking back into our room.

I stared dumbfounded at the door, was he _really_ being this childish or was it just one of his little ticks of being annoyed. My expression must’ve easily been read as Nick rolled his eyes and followed Zak into the other room, closing the door firmly behind him.

“…so now what?” I asked Aaron who was watching Ringo eyeing up the leftover pizza.

“We wait I guess. Nick is quite good at making Zak see sense when he needs to.” He replied.

“Yeah well I think Zak might be a little harder to talk sense into this time.” I murmured. I could hear Zak through the door, he didn’t sound too happy, I then heard Nick’s calm tone over him, there were a few moments of silence before the door opened and they both walked back into the room. Nick looked somewhat triumphant whilst Zak just looked mildly annoyed, I decided to not say anything to him until much later.

**~11:30pm~**

 

Nick was complaining he was tired so he practically kicked me and Zak out of his room so he could sleep, so we ended up stood in our room in silence simply staring at each other, one waiting for the other to speak first. It felt like an eternity before I let a small murmur escape my lips; “So…before you ask, my neck is fine.”

“Good.” He uttered, pacing the room slightly, not breaking eye contact with me, for two people who were mildly flirting with each other a few days ago, this didn’t seem half hostile. “…did you…think about what I said?”

“Yes.” I answered. “And my answer is still the same.”

“…fine.” He muttered. He suddenly stopped pacing the room and embraced me in a tight hug, my cheek resting on his shoulder. “This means I’m going to be on edge for the rest of the trip, but if you’re fine with it then whatever.”

We stayed hugging for a while, he smelt good. When we eventually got into bed I stared at the ceiling for a while with my thoughts turning over in my mind, as I led there I became aware of a weird thought beginning to emerge from the depths of my mind _; I wonder what life would be like if I became Zak’s girlfriend…_

I shook my head to rebury that thought, now wasn’t the time to be thinking that. He led snoring lightly next to me, his shoulders relaxed and slumped against the pillow, every now and then a small incoherent mumble would escape from his lips. My eyes felt heavy but I didn’t actually feel tired, it was probably going to be one of those nights where I want to sleep but I can’t, how frustrating.

**~ 1am ~**

No matter how many times I tried to fool myself into falling asleep my mind would simply not stop whirling into life. It was pitch black in the room, Zak hadn’t woken up once in the past hour and a half, although he had nearly rolled on top of me _several_ times and I had to plant my hands on his chest to prevent me losing the ability to breathe. My thoughts were flicking back and forth, replaying memories of my attacks, moments between Zak and I, flashbacks from the dreams that Jay has shown me of his life.

In one particular flashback of a dream; he showed me the boy with freckles again, this time they were in the cafeteria of Preston Castle but something wasn’t right, something in the atmosphere of the room was different; it wasn’t busy and crowded as such, things weren’t normal. Everyone was sat in silence, there was a man, who I guessed was a warden, standing in the centre of the table arrangement. His stance proclaimed authority over the boys in the room, his voice tore through them as he barked;

“This morning. A body was found in the basement. One of the older boys here has been murdered.”

Silence. Complete and utter silence. All the boys stared down at the battered and beaten wooden tables as the warden continued speaking.

“If any of you know who did it, I demand you speak up before lights out tonight.” He spat. “Dismissed!”

Everyone suddenly rose from their seats almost in a military fashion as the warden marched out the room, as soon as he was gone I heard the collective sigh of relief and then murmuring broke out. The kid with freckles smiled weakly at me; “Wow...murdered...crazy huh Jay?”

My head nodded, once again I was just a passenger in this ride.

“...do you...think it was someone our age?”

A small laugh escaped my body, which surprised both me and the freckled kid.

“Jay this isn’t _funny_.” He whispered, leaning over the table. “Someone just got _murdered._ ”

“I doubt it.” I found myself saying.

“You don’t think so?”

“Nah. Probably suicide.” I muttered.

“JAY!”

“What Ed? Ah, so this freckled kid was called Ed...that kind of cleared a few things up...okay not really.

“You shouldn’t say things like that!”

“We’re all thinking it.”

 

And just like that, it was gone, back into my subconscious, I was staring at the darkness above me again. The glowing clock on the bedside table proclaimed that it was quarter to two, I sighed quietly and rubbed my eyes. These dreams were certainly different to my normal ones of going off with my favourite band to rob a bank, either way they were getting more and more vivid. I was also starting to piece together a timeline of Jay’s stay in Preston Castle little by little.

“...are you awake?” a small mumble came from beside me in the darkness.

“Yes. I can’t sleep.” I replied.

“...what time is it?”

“Nearly two.”

I felt an arm snake around my torso and pull me into Zak’s hold, this kind of behaviour didn’t surprise me as much as it used to, but bearing in mind we were in pitch darkness it still made me gasp slightly.

“It’s okay...” he murmured. “Why can’t you sleep?” his breath was hot on my neck as he now leaned on one elbow and stroked my cheek.

“I don’t know.”

“...something troubling you?”

“I don’t think so...” I sighed, suddenly I felt tired. “I kinda feel tried now though..”

He laughed lightly. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I felt his lips press against my forehead as he lowered himself down beside me, he nuzzled my neck as he got comfortable again.

“Because I’m too predictable?” I uttered.

“...if you say so.” He whispered. “I’m not saying what I think.”

“Why not?” I asked, my curiosity building.

“You wouldn’t tell me what you thought of me so I’m not saying anything.” I could almost feel the smirk on his lips and hear the laughter in his voice as he replied.

“...harsh. You certainly don’t play easy do you?”

He didn’t reply, I thought he had fallen back to sleep when he muttered something incoherent, I waited for him to repeat himself but only silence greeted my curious ears. I prodded him and got a small moan in response.

“Zak...” I sighed.

“I said meh.” He muttered.

“No you did not.” I giggled slightly “You said _something_ but I couldn’t hear what.”

“...sleep.”

“Zachary..” I hummed as I turned to face him. “Tell me please?”

“...no.”

“Why?”

“Luna, I’ll tell you later.” He muttered.

“Or you could tell me now…”

“What do I have to do to make you sleep?”

Several less-than-clean-thoughts ran through my head, I bit my lip and laughed slightly in response before shuffling closer to him. He sighed lightly and wrapped an arm around me, surrounding me with his warmth, sleep came easily to me this time as I relaxed against his chest.

**~ 9:30am ~**

My eyes fluttered open to the sunlit room, Zak was awake…kind of, he was led beside me with his eyes closed but his hand was stroking my shoulder over and over again. I sighed quietly and linked my fingers in-between his as I gradually woke up.

“Morning..” he mumbled, opening one eye lazily after a while.

“Morning” I replied.

“Get much sleep?”

“…I got enough.” I murmured as I moved closer to him.

“…good.” He sighed as he wrapped an arm around me, we stayed wrapped up in the bed sheets for a while, simply listening to the noise from the outside world, including Nick and Aaron loudly talking next door about something or other. I felt peaceful as we led there holding hands and nuzzling each other’s necks, I never wanted to get up.

“Come on, we need to start preparing for Leap castle.” He declared, quickly stroking my face as he sat up.

“But I don’t wanna get up…” I whimpered. “I’m quite happy just being here with you.” I smiled up at his little goofy smile.

“So am I…but trust me, we’ll have some time together later.” He answered. “I promise.”

A grin broke out across my face as I nodded and sat up. After briefly checking my phone for any messages I got out of bed and got dressed, Zak had gone to take a shower so I went to see what Nick and Aaron were doing.

“Well well…look who decided to get up.” Nick remarked as I crouched down to greet Ringo.

“Hilarious Nick.” I sighed. “You should be a comedian.”

“I sense sarcasm dude.” Aaron laughed.

I rolled my eyes at them as we descended into laughter, it wasn’t long before Zak came through the door looking more awake than earlier, he simply sighed before picking me up from behind and spinning me around, catching me by surprise in the process.

When he put me down I was a little dizzy but giggling as I clung to him waiting for everything to stop spinning. Nick and Aaron just smirked and looked at us with raised eyebrows. Eventually I got to grips with myself and detached myself from him with one final giggle.

“Well now that you’ve finished cutting the blood supply off to my wrists…” Zak remarked. “Leap castle, what do we need to know Nick?”

“Let’s start with history.” Nick answered as he picked up a notepad and flicked a few pages over, seeming to ignore what just happened. “So it was built in the late 15th Century by the O’Bannon family who were linked to the O’Carroll clan.”

“Wait, the 15th Century? That’s like…five hundred years ago..” Aaron exclaimed.

“Yes…buildings are old over here in Europe.” I remarked

“Anyway…in 1532 a man called Mulrooney O’Carroll died, this flared up some rivalry between his two sons over who would take over as head of the family. The older son, Teige O’Carroll is said to have murdered his younger brother during evening mass in what is now known as ‘the Bloody Chapel’.” Nick informed us as he steadily read from his notes.

“Wow…dark.” I murmured.

“…okay, what else?” Zak asked. “I assume there is more?”

“Not from that century…the 16th Century is the next time anything noteworthy happened; the leader of the clan, who is only referred to as O’Carroll, held a banquet for a group of guests from both his own and other clans, as soon as they sat down to eat he massacred them all. This was quite common apparently.” I saw his eyebrows rise as he continued reading, seemingly remembering researching it.

“What the hell? He murdered his own clan?” Aaron asked.

“Apparently…and a load of other people…” Nick replied.

“This just keeps getting better and better.” I sighed. “What happened next Nicholas?” I smirked. He rolled his eyes before glancing back at his notepad.

“There isn’t a date stamp for this one but it’s fairly interesting, there are paranormal reports linked to it so that’s probably why I picked it out _; ‘one of the daughters of one of the past owners of the castle was to be married off to a rich gentleman, however, she insisted on falling in love with a poor farm boy. When her father found out, he settled the matter in the standard O’Carroll way. He had the boy killed. His daughter, being an O’Carroll, reciprocated in kind; one night, while he was asleep, she went into his bedroom and killed him. The following day, the daughter went up to the top of the castle. Possibly she was wondering what lay ahead for her. She got her answer in a very typical O’Carroll way; an invisible hand pushed her off the tower and she fell to her death. It was believed that it was her father’s ghost which had caused her fatal fall.’_ It came off the internet so it’s worded a little weirdly, but you get the idea…”

We all nodded, that one seemed a little less extreme than the others, but something was bugging me.

“What about the elemental?” I asked, my eyes fixed on Nick’s expression as he raised an eyebrow.

“I was just getting to that my dear Luna.” He replied, flipping the page over to reveal an entire page titled; ‘the elemental and all its glory.’ “So…where should I start?”

“How about the beginning?” Zak sighed.

“Okay. So in 1659 the castle’s ownership was handed to the Derby family via marriage. In the late 19th century Mildred Darby tried her hand in the dark arts, innocently thinking that it was just for fun…which was a BIG mistake….”

“I can see where this is going; ‘hey Aaron go to where this thing resides and provoke it’” Aaron complained, imitating Zak’s commands.

“No.” Zak replied sharply. “No-one is going to go near it alone.”

“Nick, continue.” I interjected before we ended up in a heated discussion about Zak’s habit of using Aaron as bait.

“Ahem.” He murmured. “So obviously this wasn’t a good idea, and she had an experience and I have the quote here; ‘ _The thing was the size of a sheep. Thin gaunt and shadowy… its eyes which seemed half decomposed in black cavities stared into mine. The horrible smell...gave me a deadly nausea. It was the smell of a decomposing corpse’_ …this is typically attributed to a haunting known as an Elemental.”

“There’s more to it than that.” I stated.

“Do you wanna enlighten us then?” he challenged with a smirk.

“Okay.” I shrugged, “It’s been seen quite a few times, and is mostly described as the size of a sheep and having a decaying face, it’s said to be accompanied by the stench of a decomposing corpse and…sulphur…and we _all_ know what that means…” I sighed. “It’s unpredictable and malevolent – not many people have been attacked, but there are a few cases. Unfortunately I don’t know the details of these attacks.”

They looked at me with the now familiar confusion they always seem to look at me with when this happens. Zak shuffled his feet on the cheap hotel carpet as he crossed his arms over his chest, Nick flicked the pages of his notepad over a few times as Aaron ruffled Ringo’s fur whilst he snoozed beside his chair.

Sulphur is a stench linked to demonic spiritual activity. The guys have all experienced it several times throughout their travels, I forget exactly where but there was no second guessing needed to know what was one Zak’s mind now.

“If it helps, the Elemental is more of a primitive entity, not a demonic one. Most of the time if it isn’t disturbed then it probably doesn’t do much, just like the rest of the spirits of Leap castle it probably just wants to reside in peace.” I said, trying to liven the silence.

“…but still.” Zak uttered. “It’s there and it’s potentially dangerous.”

“I’ll be fine. Nick isn’t there a hidden dungeon or something?” I replied, changing the subject.

“Yeah, I was going to bring that up next…in 1922, after a fire had destroyed part of the building, some workmen stumbled upon an oubliette – a small dungeon whose name, derived from the French oublier, meaning "forget," - behind a wall of the bloody chapel. It’s basically a small pit with iron spikes at the bottom of it, prisoners would be thrown down there to their death, they would either die instantly by impalement or eventually by starvation. Three cartloads of human remains were shifted out of it when it was discovered.”

“Wow. They liked killing people didn’t they?” Aaron asked.

“Yup…they were a blood-thirsty clan the O’Connalls.” Nick replied

“Okay…so is that all the history?” Zak asked.

“At the moment yes, the owner might have more details but that’s all I got.”

“So paranormal reports?”

“Well we’ve discussed the elemental already so…the bloody chapel’s windows would be seen from the outside to light up ‘as if many candles were brought into the room’, um…a lady in a red gown has been seen too around the grounds – no-one really knows who she is but these encounters have been tagged as ‘alarming’ so…could be anything.”

“Fun, anything else?” I asked.

“The girl who killed her father? She’s been seen on the top of the castle on the walkways, and people have heard weeping too. There are other small reports such as a man sitting by a fireplace on the ground floor, music wafting through the rafters of the building and rooms lighting up at random times of the night.” He flicked his notepad shut, therefore declaring he was finished. “So when do we leave?”

“…the day after tomorrow…” Zak murmured. “I want to have a decent night’s sleep, plus I’m going to find out when Billy can fly over…so…yeah, day after tomorrow.”

We nodded, Zak brought his phone out of his pocket and went into our room to call Billy, I leaned against the desk with all the equipment cases piled up on and just let my thoughts wander for a while. Nick and Aaron started talking about something but I was only vaguely aware of their conversation until they interrupted my thoughts of Zak’s tattoos.

“What do you think Luna?” Aaron asked.

“huh?” I replied.

“…you were daydreaming weren’t you?” he smirked.

“..maybe…why?”

“Of Zak probably…” Nick remarked.

“Nick…are you under the impression I have a _thing_ for Zak?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s pretty obvious.” He answered. “I mean, I don’t recall you sharing a bed with him back in January…”

“Yes but…that…was then. I hardly knew…” I muttered, unsure of how I was going to blag my way through this one.

“You have a thing for Zak.” Nick declared. “Admit it.”

“I won’t say I’m in love.” I stated, somewhat mentally facepalming at myself for making a Disney reference.

“I never…wait…you’re denying something I didn’t even question.”

“Your point?”

“A bit hasty weren’t you?”

“…again…what is your point?”

“You’re not helping yourself Luna.” Aaron laughed.

I was about to make a snarky reply when Zak came back into the room, he laughed slightly as he slipped his phone into his pocket and returned his attention to us. “Sup guys?”

“Nothing, what did Billy have to say?” I asked before either of the others could say anything.

“Not much, he’s meeting us in Scotland when we’re done at Leap Castle.” He replied. “The Constantinos have been helping him look at some of our EVPs from the first couple of locations so hopefully we’ll get some feedback.”

“Cool..” I murmured, carefully watching Nick and Aaron as they glanced at each other.

“Something up?” Zak asked, looking at each of us in turn.

“Nope.” I muttered, letting a small smile play on my lips as I looked at him. “Nothing at all.”

He smiled back, a little smile that made my heart flutter. I felt my face getting warmer as we just stood there in silence smiling at each other.

“Ahem…uh...so what do we do for the rest of the day?” Nick coughed.

“Uh…I don’t know, just…relax a little I guess?”

Another smirk spread across Nick’s face as he simply shrugged and nodded, Aaron looked as if he was about to die from not being able to laugh, that didn’t stop him sniggering when Zak gave Nick a confused look.

“What?” Zak asked.

“Nothing’.” Nick replied. “I like that idea. I’m sure Luna does too.” He looked at me with a look that told me he was scheming again...

“As a matter of fact I do.” I remarked, biting my lip as I smiled.

“Good.” Zak said as he picked me up from behind again. “Now if I remember correctly I have a promise to fulfil.”

I giggled as he shoved the door open with his shoulder and carried me through with almost no effort. The door closed quickly behind us as I was dropped unceremoniously onto the bed with both of us in fits of laughter, he lay on his side next to me as we continued laughing. After a while we fell silent, I smiled at him as we just looked at each other.

“So…are you gonna tell me?” I asked.

“Tell you what?” he replied, even though I’m pretty sure he knew exactly what I was talking about.

“What you refused to tell me earlier…what you muttered into the pillow.” I said, trailing a finger down his arm which was resting against my side. “You said you’d tell me later, it’s now later.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He smirked.

“Yes you do.” I sighed

“…no…pretty sure I don’t.” he chuckled.

“Zachary…” I sternly said with a smirk, “you _do_ …now what will it take for you to tell me?”

“I don’t know…” he whispered, suddenly leaning over me, his face barely inches from mine.

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not now…” I mumbled as my heart slammed into my chest, I could hear my voice hitching in my throat and my breathing becoming irregular.

“Told you you’re easy to fool…” he smirked.

“When?”

“A few days ago…I don’t know, I’ve lost track of the days.”

“…I see…”

“But it’s cute.”

“It is?” I whispered, my cheeks reddening.

“…yeah…”

I reached up and stroked his cheek, I couldn’t think of anything to say in response so I placed my other hand on his chest, I could feel his heartbeat thudding through his shirt. He pressed his lips to my forehead and curled a finger under my chin as he just stared into my eyes.

“Zak?” I uttered.

“Yeah?”

“…um…” I had forgotten what I was going to say. “…don’t…worry about me during this investigation…I’ll be fine.” It was the first thing that had popped into my head.

“…sweetheart…I’ll always worry.” He murmured. “I mean…you’re so fragile…”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I smugly remarked, snaking an arm around his neck, my hand brushing underneath the back of his shirt where his Poveglia-inspired tattoo was. He laughed slightly as he sighed.

“…what I meant was…you’re just…a magnet of activity, I don’t mean in a bad way but…we can’t ignore the fact that you’re the centre of all the attacks and such. I just can’t stand it when you get picked on.” He murmured.

“Oh Zak…” I sighed. “I can take care of it.”

“Yeah but-”

“Shush…I promise…if it ever gets too much…if I ever want to stop…if I ever feel uncomfortable doing this, I’ll tell you. I _promise_.” I said, pulling him down slightly so I could feel his breath on my lips. “Okay?”

“…O-okay…” he said barely above a whisper. He was practically led on top of me now, but one of his bulky arms was taking most of his weight as he leaned on the mattress beside me.

“…good, now we’ve got that sorted.”

“Y-yeah…” he stuttered. “…now what?”

“Whatever you want.” I had no idea what was possessing me to say half of what was coming out of my mouth, I was too busy trying not to accidentally move against him or pull him down further.

“…um…” he muttered, flushing bright red, which made me giggle.

“Um what Zak?” I asked, trying to sound innocent but to no avail, it simply made him go redder, if that was even possible.

“…I..uh..”

“Guys I’m hungry.” Nick’s voice came from the doorway and ruining the moment in the process. Zak seemed to jump a mile when he heard our friend’s voice, he pulled away abruptly, still red-faced.

“I…see.” He said. “Um…what do you expect me to do about it?”

“…get food? It’s your turn to do a food run.” Nick smirked.

“Sure…yeah..uh, pizza sound good?”

Nick nodded and watched as Zak left quickly. “Did I interrupt something?” he was smirking still.

“You have _no_ idea…” I sighed. “I had him in my grasp and then you _had_ to come in…”

“So you admit you have a thing for Zak?”

“Well duh…I wouldn’t of been trying to…” I realised what I had just said before I could stop myself. Shit.

“Ah-ha!” he triumphantly cried. “Aaron owes me $25 now.”

“Were you taking bets?!” I shouted, the urge to laugh was overwhelming.

“Maybe…as I said, it was obvious you liked him.”

“You better start running Nick…” I muttered, laughter escaping my body before I knew it. “Cause when I get hold of you it’s not going to be pretty.”

“Catch me if you can!” he shouted as he rushed into his room.

I’d figure out what this all meant later, the whole nearly kissing Zak episode, but in that moment all I could think about was beating Nick around the head with a pillow, I wasn’t mad, just annoyed that he had to choose that _exact_ moment to walk in and spook Zak, right when I had him where I wanted…


	25. Confessions and a plan of action

**Confessions and a plan of action**

The trouble with being on the road for any extended length of time is that you begin to lose track of where you are and what day it is, as far as I could tell we were still in Wales, considering there were sheep everywhere still (and confusing road signs),  and it was our last night before we made the journey to Ireland – or more specifically; Leap Castle – and Nick had ruined the ‘moment’ Zak and I were in the middle of earlier with his request for food...which he didn’t actually eat...  
We had decided to leave the hotel and go for a wander around the small village we were staying in, Ringo leading the way with Aaron holding the leash and Zak rambling on about technical stuff to him, Nick and I walked behind them in idle chitchat as we made our way along the road heading for nowhere in particular.

“So what _did_ I interrupt?” Nick asked quietly just as Zak was getting into the details of a particular piece of equipment he was thinking of testing out.

“...I don’t know what you mean Nick.” I smugly replied, I was speaking the truth really, I had no idea what would’ve become of it if he hadn’t of interrupted us.

“Yes you do...” he grinned. “You know _exactly_ what I mean.”

I laughed and shook my head as we started walking along a wooded trail. “Well elaborate...what do you _think_ we were doing?” His grin grew wider, I almost regretted asking that, _almost_.

“...well...there are many _many_ possibilities....but I’d have to say that I thought you were...” he replied, pausing and whispering the rest in my ear. “ _I thought you were making out or something._ ”

Well...that was...interesting, I fought to contain my laughter as I started walking again to catch up with the other two guys, Nick had this sly grin on his face still as he followed suit. I didn’t comment on his answer and he didn’t pursue it, we simply walked in silence through the woods with Aaron and Zak still rambling on about cameras and equipment.

**~*~**

“Come on you two! You’ve hardly said anything since we entered the woods!” Aaron exclaimed as we watched Ringo splash in and out of a stream.

“That’s because you and Zak have been talking all this time about stuff I know next to nothing about.” I replied, crossing my arms across my chest.

“Touché.” Zak interjected. “But you could interrupt at any time you know..” he commented, wrapping an arm loosely around my shoulders. I raised an eyebrow at him before getting distracted at Nick’s scheming grin, I don’t like it when Nick is scheming, it normally involves me being embarrassed on national TV...

“I’ll remind you of that when I interrupt you mid-rant.” I remarked, peering around at the trees surrounding us. “It’s getting late ain’t it?” I asked.

“…no…well…it’s about six.” Nick replied, “Depends what your definition of ‘late’ is.”

I shrugged and leaned into Zak’s loose hold, Ringo was still splashing around in the small stream and Aaron was trying to coax him out of it so we could start making our way back to the hotel, apparently we had to get up early tomorrow to make our way to Leap Castle, I wasn’t sure how many days it had been since the last investigation. My neck was still bruised and aching in places but I felt overly calm about what had happened…maybe the few precious minutes with Zak earlier had soothed my thoughts…either way soon we’d be in Ireland and be investigating again.

Or at least we would be if Ringo wasn’t set on bolting through the woods with Aaron and Zak chasing after him.

“How do you keep him under control normally?” Nick asked as we walked leisurely along the path the others ran along a few moments beforehand.

“I don’t, he runs, I run after him. Eventually I stop and he comes back looking disappointed that I didn’t keep running. It’s not the most effective of training methods but it works for me.” I answered. “He’ll stop eventually…I hope.”

 It was actually getting dark by the time we caught up to Zak and Aaron, they were both out of breath and leaning heavily against trees, Ringo was sat patiently watching them both panting in the evening humidity. I simply laughed when both guys just nodded at us as we arrived, maybe Zak was right when he said he wasn’t as fit as he used to be.

“Tired Zachary?” I remarked, reattaching Ringo’s leash to his collar. “You ought to work out more.” I winked, he laughed lightly as he stood up straight again.

“Not from that, but then again I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Bullshit, _I_ was the one who was awake until two am.” I retaliated.

“I woke up though and we spent ages talking.” He smugly pointed out as we started walking back towards the village. “And I don’t get much ‘peaceful’ sleep anyway….”

“I know you don’t, but I’m the one who has healing injuries.” I sighed, letting Ringo’s leash hang loosely in my hand as I glanced at the darkening sky through the trees.

“…are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m alright with it.” I smiled at him, “Just another thing to add to the evidence books I guess.”

He didn’t say anything in response, he took my free hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze, I swear I heard Nick and Aaron say ‘aww’ from not too far behind us.

**~ The next day ~**

“Come on guys we need to get going!” Zak sighed as he shut the doors of the van. “Next stop is the ferry port.”

I stifled a yawn as I opened the door for Ringo to get in, why we were up at six am was a mystery, all I was aware of was Zak shaking me awake an hour ago and mumbling something about a ferry.

“Come on sweetheart, you can sleep in the van on the way.” He said as he gestured for me to get into the van.

“Why do we have to be up this _early_?” I whined as I slumped down on the back seat.

“You’re not a morning person are you Luna?” Nick remarked as he got into the front passenger seat.

“No, especially when no-one told me we’d be up at the crack of dawn.” I sulked. I hated early mornings with a passion and not even Zak’s gentle voice could change that right now.

“Full speed ahead!” Aaron suddenly exclaimed as he slammed the accelerator down, causing the van to jerk violently into life and speed down the uneven country roads, I thought Zak drove like a madman, this was just insane.

“Jesus Aaron, wanna go any faster?” Nick sighed as we hit several potholes.

“We’re already at top speed Gee.” He boasted.

“Please tell me you’re kidding…” I muttered.

“Just another hour to go!” he declared.

“Yay…” Zak sighed from beside me.

“Do _try_ to be more enthusiastic Zachary.” Aaron taunted. “Or I’ll drive faster.”

“NO.” Both Nick and I shouted.

**~ *** ~**

“It wasn’t _that_ bad guys…” Aaron protested as we sat in a coffee bar on the ferry.

“Speak for yourself…” I muttered. “First I get woken up at five am, then we drive at 90mph on twisting country lanes, which we could’ve **_died_** on if a tractor had come around a corner at the wrong moment…”

“Yeah but we _didn’t_ die.”

“I’m driving once we get off this damn ferry,” Zak declared as he stared out the window at the body of water we were crossing.

“No complaints here.” Nick remarked as he drained his coffee cup.

“All I can say is thank god Ringo doesn’t get car sick.” I murmured, resting my head on Zak’s shoulder, I felt him tense slightly as I did so.

“Agreed.” Aaron sighed, stroking the rather relaxed canine slumbering between the two couches.

“How long are we going to be on this thing?” Zak complained.

“About five hours.” I replied.

“…what…”

“The Irish sea is big dude.”

“Why didn’t we fly?” he muttered.

“Too expensive, plus boats are fun.” Nick remarked.

“No they’re not.”

“Yes they are!”

“Guys shut up!” I mumbled loudly, I wasn’t sure what time it was but it was still too early to be listening to their petty squabble.

“Make us.” Nick taunted. I glared at him, my head still resting on Zak’s shoulder. “Oh _so_ scary.” he laughed.

“Dude…it is like…eight am, can we just be a little quieter?” Zak sighed, clearly he wasn’t in the mood for this either.

“Sure Zachary.” Aaron taunted.

I eventually fell asleep against Zak, when I woke up I was reliably informed that it was half eleven and Nick and Aaron were gone, as was Ringo.

“Where are the others?” I muttered, raising my head slightly.

“They took Ringo for a walk I think.” He replied.

“Okay…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, a little tired still but mostly good.”

“And your neck?”

“It’s fine, hardly hurts now unless I directly touch the bruises.”

“Well that’s good…”

We sat in silence, my head returning to his shoulder, it was peaceful, just feeling the boat tip gently from side to side in the current and Zak’s unsteady breathing.

“You don’t like boats do you?” I asked

“I don’t like open water…”

“Would that be why your breathing is unsteady then?”

“…probably..” he murmured, “I have stuff on my mind too..”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say to that, either way I was now curious. “Like what?”

“…the next investigation and its dangers, your wellbeing…personal stuff..”

“Just don’t leave me near the elemental spirit…” I muttered as if it was nothing spectacular.

He didn’t reply, I knew I probably hadn’t made him any calmer about the investigation, the ferry continued slightly tipping back and forth in the churning water – I somewhat hoped I would be able to fall asleep again however there was this weird nagging sensation in the back of my mind that refused to quieten down.

“Um…could you get off my shoulder? It’s going numb.” Zak murmured.

“Sorry.” I replied, sitting up straight for the first time in hours, his cheeks were tinted slightly pink as he focused on the never-ending water we were travelling across. “Only two more hours though.” I yawned.

“…yep..” he grunted

**~ *** ~**

“Your dog is far too energetic.” Aaron complained as they returned from their walk. “He tried to jump off the boat several times.”

“And eat someone’s ice-cream.” Nick added.

“And burger.”

“He saw another dog and tried to pull me over several people to get to it.”

“I can’t take you anywhere can I Ringo?” I laughed as I ruffled his fur. “But you’re so cute I don’t care.” He barked happily in reply and licked my hands.

“What about Zak?” Aaron asked.

“Huh?” I answered, what were they trying to get me to say _now_?

“And his tattoos.” Nick added with that infamous smirk.

I looked to Zak, he was concentrating his stare out the window and sat rigid in his seat; knees together and torso hunched over the small windowsill. His cheeks were still tinted pink.

“I have _no_ idea what you’re talking about,” I replied.

“Oh you _do_.” Nick winked.

“No I don’t.” I bluntly replied.

“You will soon.” Aaron added, god I hate it when they stat scheming like this.

“Yo Zak you alright?” Nick asked.

“Y-yep.” He replied, his voice catching in his throat. We all looked at each other in confusion, well _I_ was confused, the other two were smirking like crazy.

“You sure dude?” Aaron asked.

“Yes…now..uh..go get us some food.” He replied hesitantly.

Aaron shrugged and ambled off towards the food court, I was left with a devilishly smirking Nick and a silent Zak who had Ringo falling asleep at his feet.  
Nick and I ended up having a silent conversation/argument with many comical hand gestures around the topic of yesterday’s ‘interruption’ until Aaron came back with hotdogs coated with ketchup.

“Yo Zak I got food.” He declared, handing us each a hotdog.

We eat more or less in silence, about halfway through I managed to get ketchup on my nose – much to Nick and Aaron’s amusement.

“Um…Luna you got some…uh ketchup on your nose.” Zak muttered as the others fell into hysterical laughter.

“Where?” I asked, attempting to wipe it off but apparently making it worse judging by the blush slowly creeping its way across Zak’s face and the hysterical laughter from the others.

“I..uh.. I’ll go get something to wipe it off with…” he stammered, scrambling out of his seat and rushing off somewhere. He had failed to notice the pile of napkins sat on Nick’s side of the table.

“I’ll go and find him.” Nick declared between fits of laughter as he handed me one of the paper towels.

**~ (Nick’s P.O.V) ~**

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” I asked Zak as he washed his hands in the men’s room.

“Yes.” He replied bluntly.

“You seem a little off today.”

“I’m…fine.” He murmured. Like hell was I going to believe that.

“I don’t believe you.” I stated. He looked at me, his cheeks were still a little tinted and his breathing was erratic. “Dude what is it? You can tell me I won’t tell anyone.”

“..n-not Luna?”

“No, not Luna.”

He sighed, “I...don’t know what’s going on with me dude..”

“…how so?” I asked, leaning against the wall.

“…she’s just…amazing…”

“Who Luna?”

“Yeah…after all she’s been through…she still wants to continue investigating. I mean, if I had been attacked as many times as she has at sixteen then I probably would be terrified to spend a night in a haunted location…”

“I see…” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “She is quite brave…”

“And pretty too…” he sighed, looking at his reflection in the mirror. “I can’t get her out of my head Nick..”

“So what are you saying?” I asked. “You’re thinking of her more than a friend?”

He was quiet for a few moments before nodding. “…when I held her the other night after her attack she just felt so small and fragile…just like a china doll. I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and hold her until she wasn’t hurting anymore…”

“Is that why you are constantly asking if she’s okay?” I asked. He nodded in reply again.

“Yeah, I’m just so paranoid that she’ll be suffering in silence if I don’t keep asking her, I don’t want her to feel like she can’t tell me if she does feel upset or something.” He rambled.

“…that makes sense I guess.” I replied.

“I’m kinda unsure what to do about Leap Castle…well the elemental anyway…”

“It’ll be fine, she has Jay.”

“He…he didn’t stop it last time what makes you think he’d stop it this time?” his voice was shaking slightly.

“Zak…didn’t Luna tell you? Jay couldn’t stop the attack because he was protecting _you_.” I didn’t want to be the one to tell him but it might help him calm down a little.

“Why the hell was he protecting me?”

“…because…well I don’t know, maybe she told him to…”

We stood in silence for a few moments, it wasn’t beyond the bounds of possibility that Luna _did_ ask Jay to protect Zak, but why would she ask him to? The Skirrid Mountain Inn didn’t have any demonic activity attached to it as far as we knew so there would’ve been no reason to ask him to…

“I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to her because she asked him to protect me instead of herself…” Zak mumbled before quickly walking out of the men’s room.

 

**~ *** ~  
(Luna’s P.O.V)**

The call went out for drivers to return to their vehicles after what seemed like an awkward eternity, Zak and Nick got back from wherever they went off to and both seemed a little tense, neither would tell us why.

After travelling around with these guys both in the states and in the UK I started to pick out certain characteristics of each different guy’s driving style, Nick was cautious when he didn’t know where he was going, when in familiar surroundings he drove almost flat out on the highways. Aaron, as I experienced that morning, drove like a madman in rural areas, the cities though were a completely different story; he drove like a driver’s ed student around the side streets and alleyways, it was quite funny really. Zak’s driving was probably the most consistent out of the three, he didn’t speed, he wasn’t overly cautious either.  
I had come to the conclusion though that when his thoughts lie elsewhere his driving becomes nearly as erratic as Aaron’s. Today was one of those days.

“Zak we’re gonna get a ticket soon if you aren’t careful…” Aaron muttered. Zak just grunted and lifted off the accelerator for a few moments, slowing the van down slightly, it didn’t last long though as Aaron was complaining a barely two minutes later. “Dude, seriously slow down.”

Once again Zak simply grunted quietly and slowed the van slightly but it regained speed again pretty quickly. “Zak!”

“What Aaron?!”

“You’re speeding again!”

“It’s only 75!”

“The limit is 60 Zak…”

**~*~**

After another two hours of this kind of conversation we were apparently getting close to the location, I thought the castle was in the south near a place called Cork, apparently not. Nick informed me that we were headed to somewhere called Roscrea in the middle of Ireland, I just nodded and went back to channelling out Zak and Aaron’s squabble over speed limits.

We pulled up to a grey stone building in a small village, Nick disappeared inside the doors of what I assumed was the hotel, Zak sat silently in the driver’s seat as Aaron folded up the map and got out the van.

“Are you okay Zak?” I asked, we hadn’t said anything to each other since he rushed off at lunchtime and it was concerning me slightly.

“Yeah…I’m fine.” He replied. “Um…I think you’re sharing with Aaron tonight.”

“Oh…okay…” I was a little confused as to why the sudden change in sleeping arrangements had been made.

“Are you okay with that?” He turned around to face me, his eyes were wide which made him look like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car.

“Yeah, any reason why I’m not sharing with you?” I asked, pushing most of my confusion and disappointment aside for now.

“…um…just luck of the draw.”

_What? What was he on about?_

“Huh?”

“I mean, we draw straws…um…yeah.” He was clearly lying, there is no way that they decide on sleeping arrangements with straws.

“..right…okay then.” I hesitantly replied. Nick reappeared with the room keys, we all took the equipment up to the rooms, we then ended up sat in the pub connected to the hotel, I was still aware of the nagging feeling in my mind, it had been there all day and it was getting on my nerves. We sat in a corner of the room crowded around a table chatting about this and that, nothing too taxing for the mind, this gave me the opportunity to take note of Zak’s kind of bizarre behaviour; he kept taking his ring on and off of his finger, this alone wasn’t particularly abnormal but I noticed his hands were shaking a lot. Another thing I noticed is that he kept mumbling his words, stuttering too, his gaze was fixed on his drink rather than the person he was talking to.

  
Whilst I didn’t voice my concerns I made several worried glances to the others who weren’t exactly very supporting, I tried to ignore the nagging in my mind for the rest of the time we were sat in the pub, focusing only on Ringo who was fascinated with the table legs for some reason.

 

**~ *** ~**

“Any idea what was up with Zak today?” I asked Aaron as I led on my hotel bed staring at the ceiling.

“…no…” he replied “You?”

“Nothing.”

“You think Nick knows?”

“Possibly, they were gone for quite a while earlier.”

“True, and Nick probably wouldn’t tell us if he _did_ know…Zak’s quite a private person.”

“Yeah…” I sighed.

**(Nick’s P.O.V)**

“So what are you going to do?” I asked Zak as he paced the hotel room.

“I don’t know…I can’t think straight.” He replied, running his hands through his hair.

“Go take a shower then.” I suggested. “It’ll clear your head.”

“No, that won’t help right now, what do you think I should do?”

“…uh..focus on the investigation?”

“…I..I don’t know Nick…”

“We could talk about it more…if you want.”

“…if you don’t mind bro…” he murmured, sitting on his bed. “I mean…if it would make things awkward…”

“Nah don’t worry dude...speak your mind, I won’t judge you or tell her anything that you said.” I assured him.

 “Okay…I just…” He sighed heavily, “She’s just…so persevering…and well…”

I nodded in agreement, I was just trying to get him to open up and vent, I had noticed earlier that he was very restless in the pub and I knew from experience that if he didn’t get himself calmed down then something was bound to go wrong during this investigation.

“…like she wanted to go back to Preston Castle so badly to find Jay…” he went on. “She doesn’t seem to register just _how_ many scars she has because of things she’s experienced.”

He went silent for a few moments, running his hands through his hair over and over again – something he only does when he’s either stressed or tired.

“So…anything else?” I asked

“She’s quite funny when she’s frustrated.” A small smirk played on his lips.

“Is she?” I smirked too.

“To me she is…” he laughed lightly before returning to his slightly stressed state. “She asked me if I was okay earlier…”

“…and?”

“I said I was fine but…” he was getting restless again, he stood up abruptly and started pacing the room.

“…do you need a hug or something?” I asked, it was meant to be a joke but the humour didn’t really convey well in the tense conversation.

“No…I’m fine…I just…I _lied_ to her…”

“It was justified…” I replied.

“But…she _knows_ something is wrong…”

“It’ll be okay.”

“Not it won’t.” he sharply said.

“Why not?”

“…because…I..I..” he stammered.

“Zak?” I asked, he doesn’t normally stammer this badly, then again this was far from normal.

“I…”

“Chill…take a few moments to clear your head…”

He sighed heavily and stared at the cheap hotel flooring. “I…I think I’m falling for her…” he mumbled.

“…pardon?”

“I said I think I’m falling for her…but…I don’t know what to do…”

We fell into silence, I wasn’t sure how to respond, I didn’t want either of  them rushing into anything but at the same time I didn’t want any of this to get caught up in the investigation. I could tell he was waiting for me to say something and that the longer it took me to reply the more awkward it would be.

“…I think, you should take a shower…and then sleep on it dude. You’re tired and you need to think about this some more.” I said.

He nodded and made his way into the bathroom, I waited until I heard the shower running before I went to Aaron’s room.

“What’s up dude?” he whispered through the crack in the door as he checked on the now sleeping Luna.

“I need a favour.”

“…okay, what?”

“Don’t ask what for but, could you possibly find out Luna’s thoughts on Zak are?”

“…sure…anything specific?” he seemed a little suspicious to say the least.

“feelings towards him? Just don’t hint anything and whatever you do _don’t_ tell Zak.”

“Oh..kay..is there a deadline?”

“Asap?” I asked “Just don’t push too much…”

He nodded and closed the door. Sure I did promise I wouldn’t say anything to _Luna_ , but Aaron wasn’t going to say anything that would make it obvious…I hoped.  
I sighed and fell back onto my bed, sleep was beckoning me, this problem wasn’t going to go away overnight.


	26. Heated heart-to-hearts

**Heated heart-to-hearts**

“Yo Luna, get up.” Aaron’s voice invaded my blissfully dreamless sleep.  
  
“Piss off…sleeping…” I mumbled into my pillow.

“No, get up or I’ll get a bucket of water.” He threatened.

“You wouldn’t dare.” A few seconds later a wave of cold water hit my body, I shot up, soaked to the skin and cold. “What the fuck?!” I shouted. “What the actual hell?”

“I warned you.” He remarked.

“You fucker...” I muttered as I slipped out of the now soaking bed sheets.

“Language Luna.” He smirked.

“Piss off, I’m all wet now!” I shouted, storming into the bathroom after grabbing some dry clothes. I heard a rapid knock on the main room door followed by Zak and Nick demanding an explanation as to why I was shouting.

“She wouldn’t get up so I threw water all over her.” Aaron replied.

“Congratulations, you’ve probably caused her to be in a bad mood all day now.” Nick sighed.

I changed into some dry clothes and re-entered the room intending to express my annoyance about having water dropped over me, Zak and Aaron were nowhere to be seen, Nick was sat on the edge of one of the beds stroking Ringo.

“Nice sleep?” he asked.

“Until the Atlantic Ocean got dumped on me, yes it was.” I replied, sitting next to him.

“He _did_ warn you.”

“Whatever…what’s the plan for today?”

“Zak and Aaron have gone off to find food, and then we’re heading to Leap Castle for the walkthrough.”

“Is Zak…okay? He seemed a little off yesterday…” I said.

“He hasn’t been sleeping well recently, that and all the activity we’ve been getting, it’s just worn him out a little”

“Oh okay, I was just paranoid that it was something I’d done…”

“No…it’s not you…” he replied slowly.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yeah…”

“Nick…you don’t _seem_ sure.” I was slowly getting annoyed by his vague answers.

“Don’t worry Luna, it’ll be fine.”

“…alright, I’ll ask him myself.” I declared, he noticeably tensed beside me. “I’ll say to him; ‘Yo Zak am I the reason you’re acting weird?’ and get it over with.”

“I think you’re jumping to conclusions Luna…”

“How so? Is there something I should be aware of? I quickly asked, a slight pang of anger rising within me. _Goddamn temper_

“Just, you’re assuming that you’re part of a problem that doesn’t really exist, and also that I’m not telling you the truth.”

“Well you obviously know more than you’re letting on. Care to share or am I going to have to ask him?” I had no idea why I was so caught up with this, but my temper was one frequently compared to a bull seeing a red rag – all it takes is one small thing to set it off and then there’s no stopping it.

“Luna, it’s in everyone’s best interest, including yours, to just leave Zak alone. He’ll sort himself out by tomorrow night so just stop being paranoid.” Nick fired back.

“…just tell me if I _am_ partly to blame…” I mumbled.

“I can’t say that Luna if there is no problem to plant the blame from onto you.”

“…yeah right. There’s clearly something wrong, and clearly I’m not helping it.”

“I didn’t say that…”

“You didn’t have to!” I snapped, grabbing my Ipod and Ringo’s leash before beckoning the not-so-small puppy out of the hotel room, slamming the door in the process. It had been a bad morning so far.

I walked Ringo and outside and up the street, the grassy hills of Ireland surrounding the small village we were staying made for a good view. My thoughts were all over the place; I was annoyed at Nick for being so vague, annoyed at myself for possibly causing this problem, upset that I _actually have_ caused this problem and utterly heartbroken that Zak wasn’t feeling himself for reasons that may or may not have been influenced by me.

“It’s just like secondary school all over again Ringo…” I sighed as I juggled the end of his leash and my Ipod. “Too many scenarios to deal with at once.”

I stuck my earphones in and switched the small device on, the first song that came up? ‘ _Whatever it takes_ ’ by Lifehouse.

“Damn you Ipod gods…” I muttered as Ringo and I made our way onto a bridal-path. The fresh air and steady walking was helping to clear my head, Ringo was eager to go faster so I sped up to a jog, the light wind stung my eyes and cheeks, causing me to feel slightly refreshed.

We ended up by a large pond surrounded by long grass and tightly clumped trees, I let Ringo off his leash and sat on the bank to watch him dive in and out of the water. I checked the messages on my phone out of habit and saw I had two new ones – I opened this first one;

‘ _I’m sorry okay? I don’t know why you’re so caught up in assuming it’s all your fault. I think I’m being reasonable by not confirming or denying anything on the account that I really don’t know what’s going on inside his head. Just come back to the hotel already – Nick’_

That sent me back into a feud. I didn’t even look at the second message, fearing that it would be basically the same thing. I stared at the water, the early morning sunlight sparkled off the surface, dragonflies twirled and danced in the misty air, droplets of dew twinkled on the leaves of the trees. It was peaceful and quiet, I didn’t even know what time it was or where we were but I didn’t really care at this point.

My Ipod decided to continue plotting against me by playing ‘ _Lonely Lullabies_ ’ by Owl City. I was too lazy to dig it out of my pocket so I pulled my knees up and tucked them underneath my chin as my lips silently moved in sync with the lyrics. Ringo ambled out of the water and flopped down next to me, panting and dripping wet.

“Ringo what am I going to do?” I asked him. _I needed advice and I was talking to a dog…yes because that was totally going to work._

I checked my phone again out of habit, the other unread message flashed up and I decided to get it over with and read it;

_‘Luna…I heard you stormed out after you and Nick had a brief…discussion about my odd behaviour. I’m fine, just a little tired, nothing is your fault at all sweetheart. Why don’t you come back to the hotel? – Zak’_

“Goddamn it…” I muttered. “Jay?”

“ _You called?_ ” He answered instantly, his presence strong and slightly arrogant.

“What’s wrong with Zak?”

“ _I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention…_ ” he murmured.

“Fine.”

“ _Don’t be mad…_ ” he sighed.

“I’m not mad.” I declared, getting off the grass. “Come on, I suppose we better get back to the hotel…they might send out a search party before long.”

 

**~***~**

When I entered the hotel room they were all sat on Aaron’s bed, as soon as the door closed I felt like a caged animal.

“So how was the walk?” Aaron asked as Ringo made a beeline for my bed.

“Fine.” I replied, leaning again the wall opposite them.

“…good.” He answered. The atmosphere in the room was uncomfortable and suffocating. No-one said anything which made everything ten times worse. Zak was avoiding my gaze, at any other time it would’ve been adorable. Nick on the other hand was staring at me as if he was attempting to bore into my thoughts

“So…when are we leaving for Leap Castle?” I asked, breaking the deafening silence.

“Dunno.” Nick bluntly said.

“How come?”

“It’s not my decision to make.”

_Oh for God’s sake, are we really going through this childish exchange?_

“Then who’s is it?” I asked, my temper bubbling up again.

“Mine.” Zak spoke up, his voice quiet yet authoritative. “I want to talk with you before we leave though.”

As if it was planned, (let’s face it; it probably was) Nick and Aaron left the room, leaving me with Zak still avoiding my gaze. “Alright, yell at me then.” I sighed, stepping in front of him.

“What?” He replied, looking up at me, his eyes reflected his confusion.

“Well don’t you want to yell at me for being unreasonable to Nick?”

“…no…I just want to know why you jumped to conclusions so quickly and then wouldn’t listen to reason.”

I simply stared at him, for some reason this caught me off guard, I had come in expecting him to demand I apologise to Nick or something trivial like that. “…I thought…it was all my fault…” I confessed, letting my guard down. He looked slightly confused still.

“I see…well it’s not your fault…”

“Then why was Nick so vague?” I snapped.

He stood up and held my face in his hands, he looked me directly in the eyes. “Listen, Nick doesn’t like talking about certain things if he doesn’t know the facts, including what other people are feeling or thinking. None of this is your fault okay? I just need some quiet time alone. Don’t you ever assume anything is your fault.” He sternly said.

“Okay…” I murmured, fighting back sudden tears.

“…please…just don’t worry…” he softly said. “I’m going to get the van packed up and then we’ll be leaving for the walkthrough.”

“Okay…”

He let go of my face and left without another word. For a few moments after the door shut I stood rooted to the spot, processing what had just happened.

_What did I just do? What was I supposed to say or do in response? Just ignore everything that had happened in the past few days? It was obvious that since the incident at Llancaiach Fawr Manor he’s been…troubled and not really vented. Why have I been so ignorant of his silent suffering?!_

A single tear streamed down my cheek, followed by another, soon I was flat out sobbing due to my unbalanced emotions. Ringo woke up and jumped onto the bed where Zak had been sitting only moments ago, he craned up and nuzzled my arms which were folded protectively over my stomach. My knees gave way and I sunk to the floor, my head ending up resting on the bed sheets by his paws as I sobbed uncontrollably. He nuzzled my head comfortingly, I could feel Jay’s presence from across the room but he simply steered clear of me, I buried my face further into the sheets in an effort to block out the world. I felt hopeless, unsure of where to turn now and how I should feel. I knew that eventually one of them would come looking for me after I fail to turn up downstairs but I didn’t really care.

I heard the door open, I kept my face hidden from the entrant, I felt Ringo jump off the bed and go bounding towards them. I then felt a hand on my shoulder lightly pulling on me.

“Luna…” Aaron’s quiet voice floated through the cheap linen.

“What?” I croaked, lifting my head slightly but not turning to face him.

“…is it a stupid thing to ask if you’re okay?”

I turned and looked at him, he was crouched down at eye level with me. I felt myself tear up again and I just fell into his arms, crying again.

 

**~***~**

When I had calmed down long enough to tell him what had happened it was way past any agreed time to meet up, but it didn’t seem to matter as neither Nick nor Zak had come searching for us.

“So now you’re really confused?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah…I…I don’t know how to feel…” I mumbled. “I…I kind of…like him you know?”

I saw him smile slightly as I told him that, I disregarded it as him smiling at the silver lining of this grey cloud. “Hmm…well I think you should just let Zak be Zak…we all need a little time alone sometimes.”

“But…”

“But nothing. Leave him to sort his head out. I’ve known Zak a good number of years now, and when he says he needs space it’s usually best to give it to him.”

I nodded. This was slowly fixing itself within my head, the nagging feelings and thoughts had quietened down significantly, yet there was still an over-whelming ache in my heart at the thought that I hurt him by thinking it was my fault…

 

**~Meanwhile~**

**Zak’s P.O.V**

Now I had done it. What even possessed me to say that? _I probably shouldn’t use that analogy._ We were now an hour behind schedule because I _had_ to only tell her half of the problem.

“How long do you think it’ll be before she’s okay?” I asked Nick, we were sat in the van waiting for Aaron to calm Luna down enough for her to come on the walkthrough with us.

“Dunno…I can’t imagine the rude wake-up call helped this situation.”

“Do you think…I…ruined any chance I had with her?”

“Over this? Nah, this is pretty minor stuff dude. She’ll understand that you’re tired and that, you just caught her in a bad mood today that’s all.”

“Wait…do you know if she…you know…”

“Not yet…”

“Yet?”

“I may have sent Aaron on a mission…” he replied slowly.

“You did _WHAT_?!” I shouted.

“Calm down Zak.”

“No! You _told_ Aaron?!”

“No I didn’t! I simply called up a favour, he knows nothing about your…feelings…”

We sat in silence. It’s not that Nick somewhat betrayed me, it’s that Aaron is the only one who hasn’t pissed Luna off yet – other than Billy – and now he has the task of finding out Luna’s feeling towards me, which at this present time probably aren’t good. If he annoys her too much she’ll clam up and not say anything, that’ll leave very few options for me, including asking her straight out, _not gonna happen_ or catching her by surprise with a kiss and wait for her reaction _even less likely to happen_.

“What are you thinking?” Nick asked

“About kissing her if Aaron can’t get it out of her.” I blurted out.

“…okay…a bit upfront isn’t it?” He smirked.

“I..uh.…yeah.” I muttered.

“…last resort…not plan B dude.”

“Y-yeah…okay…” I stuttered, I’ve not stuttered this frequently since I was a teenager, it’s not just around Luna either, it’s whenever she’s brought up in conversation. “So what _is_ plan B dude?”

“Leave that to me dude.” He smirked. I really hate it when he smirks like that.

“At least tell me?” I asked.

“Nope, sorry Zak. I need you in the dark as much as her, otherwise it won’t work.”

“What…won’t work?”

“What did I just say Zachary?” he taunted. “No.”

Now I was paranoid. I trust Nick like a brother but even brothers get nervous when the other is planning something, especially when their love interest is involved.

“This is going to be so much fun.” He chuckled to himself. Now I was _really_ paranoid.


	27. Dusk falls on rising tension

**Dusk falls on rising tension**

I had a new sense of respect for Aaron, he sat and held me whilst I sobbed into his shirt and he listened to my thoughts, even giving me advice on what to do. I hadn’t really considered how much he cared, an error on my part entirely, but with Nick being so…mischievous recently maybe I’ll start opening up to Aaron a bit more…

After I had choked out every last detail of my current crisis with Zak and successfully calmed down, Aaron reminded me quietly that we were meant to be going to Leap Castle for a walkthrough.

“Ah shit…” I muttered, rubbing my forehead. “They’re gonna be so pissed now…”

“I don’t think so, but we better get going all the same.” He said, getting off the floor and waking Ringo up from where he had fallen asleep on the bed.

I nodded and got up, I quickly glanced at myself in the mirror – my eyes were red and my cheeks were tear-stained, it certainly looked like I had been sobbing my heart out and it wasn’t a very attractive look.

“You alright?” Aaron asked as he stood by the door waiting for me.

“Yeah, yeah let’s go.” I replied, quickly walking to catch up with him as he was pulled away by Ringo.

We got to the van to find Nick smirking like crazy and Zak seemingly on edge, I didn’t make any sarcastic comments about either of them, I just sat in the backseat and waited for someone to say something. Nick turned the engine on and pulled out of the parking lot, he was still smirking and part of me wanted to know why but past experience told me to not bother, chances are I was the main target for whatever prank he was planning.

**~***~**

Leap castle was impressive, like most castles I’ve come across it’s built out of stone and towers over the surrounding countryside. The windows were small and sparingly situated throughout the structure, letting in minute beams of daylight that left the rest of the endless corridors in darkness. It wouldn’t take long for the entire castle to be plunged into darkness.

We were being led around the castle, our guide reciting the same information that Nick had relayed to us from his research, I had Jay pretty much attached to me making comments about anything brought up – it was cheering me up mostly but then he stopped abruptly when we entered a room known as ‘the bloody chapel’.

“Jay?” I whispered as the guide recounted the events that supposedly took place here. “Jay where are you?”

Aaron was busy filming Zak’s interrogation of the guide and Nick had been filming the surrounding area, he heard my semi-frantic whispers and shot me a quizzical look.

“Jay…” I whispered again, his presence was there still but something wasn’t right.

“What’s up?” Nick asked, trying to not alert Zak to my current distress.

“Jay…he was talking to me as we walked in here but he just stopped and I don’t know why…” I replied. “Something doesn’t feel right…”

He shifted the camera on his shoulder and gestured for me to continue.

“I just don’t like the atmosphere here…there’s just something odd in the air…” I murmured, vaguely gesturing to the room.

Zak had stopped questioning the guide and was now interested in our conversation, I could see that he was torn between rushing over to me to comfort me and simply letting me finish whatever I was saying.

“One minute I could hear Jay, next he was gone.”

“Is he still here?” Nick asked.

“…I think so.” I replied. “Slightly…possibly…” I looked around the room, it was stone as the rest of the castle, a tall arched window let a large amount of light into the enclosed space, making it feel less claustrophobic, there was a slight draft coming from the doorway which lead up a narrow staircase.

“What makes you say that?” Nick continued

I paused, the air was heavy and hot, typical of a summer’s day, I wasn’t sure if Jay was still here. “I don’t know. Jay’s presence is very faint.”

“Can either of you feel anything?” Nick asked the other two over his shoulder “And where’s Ringo?”

Zak shook his head in response, Aaron too. I was aware that Ringo had been in the room with us but had wandered off somewhere again, I wasn’t worried – he had the little collar-cam on him again.

“I think he’s up there.” I murmured, pointing to the staircase. “Wherever that leads.”

“I believe it leads to a storeroom…but it’s also where the Elemental spirit resides.” The guide piped up, his Irish accent thick and serious.

We all looked at each other, the Elemental spirit was bad news for everyone, I promised myself I would stay as far away from it as possible, I had told Zak I needed to stay away from it, for his sake as well as mine.

“…could you call him back down?” Zak asked me.

I approached the doorway, a breeze swept down the stairs at me, I faintly heard Jay’s voice;

“ _Don’t go up there!_ ” he yelled.

I stopped, a lump formed in my throat as I tried to remain calm enough to call back my puppy from where I stood. “…Ringo!” I called, my voice echoing slightly off the stone walls. I heard a soft growl, I didn’t know whether it was Ringo or not.

“Ringo, come back.” I commanded, my voice shaking slightly.

There was no response. My pulse quickened, why wasn’t he coming? Had something happened? Could he not hear me? Was something stopping him from hearing me?

“Ringo.” I bluntly called. I felt another breeze approach me, it was slower than the last but was freezing cold, I shivered.

“ _Luna get away from it!_ ” Jay’s panicked voice came through again.

“What?” I asked out loud in the silent room. Then I smelt it…the tell-tell scent of the Elemental; Sulphur. “Zak…I smell Sulphur…” I said, looking at him with wide eyes.

Zak’s reaction was quite spectacular. His shoulders tensed slightly before he just kinda snapped, he ran and dragged me out of the bloody chapel, leaving Aaron and Nick to explain to the bewildered guide what this meant, we stood in the great hall of the castle panting after running through the fortress.

“Explain what you felt beforehand.” He demanded as we caught our breath back.

“I felt a breeze when I first approached the staircase, I heard Jay’s voice warning me not to go up there, then I heard a growl, then another breeze rushed through me…then I smelt it…” I replied, leaning against one of the chairs.

“Okay…are you okay? Did it do anything?” He asked, turning me to face him.

“No…I’m fine…but Ringo…” I answered, looking at the cobbled-stone flooring.

“He’ll be fine, they don’t attack animals as far as I know.” He said, pulling me into a hug.

“But Zak…there’s so much we _don’t_ know about certain spirits…” I muttered into his shoulder.

He didn’t reply to that, he just rubbed my back comfortingly before letting go. I looked at him and made an effort to smile, he smiled back – that little smile that makes my heart flutter slightly – and took my hand in his.

“Come on, let’s go and find that puppy of yours.” He said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze before leading me back up to the bloody chapel.

When we got up there Nick wasn’t there, Aaron was explaining what the sulphur smell indicated to the guide – who actually seemed quite knowledgeable of the paranormal. Zak let go of my hand and approached the two of them, I stood a little bit away from the staircase, wary of what could be lurking up the uneven steps.

 “Where’s Nick?” he asked.

“Gone up _there_.” Aaron replied, pointing to the stairs.

“Why?”

“To find Ringo…he just took off up there after you left.” Aaron explained.

Part of me wanted to run after him, the rest of me wanted to stay rooted to the ground I was stood on, I decided to heed Jay’s warning and not make any stupid decisions whilst everything was so hectic. Instead I calmed the never-ending stream of bad scenarios of what _could_ happen and focused on the air, the air that had been hot and still only minutes ago. I was still unsure exactly _how_ I could tell when Jay was around and when there was something…else…around but sometimes it hit me out of the blue, literally.

I blocked out Zak and Aaron’s discussion about Nick’s reckless behaviour and thought of silence, channelling my thoughts, shifting through what I knew was Jay’s voice and presence with the current state of the room. Humidity was making the entire day uncomfortable and also made the air heavy.

“ _Luna, you need to stay away from that room…it’s BAD news._ ” Jay’s voice floated through.

“Is Ringo okay?” I whispered. “Are him and Nick safe?”

Silence, I concentrated, something was here and it wasn’t Jay.

“Jay?” I whispered louder.

“ _They are for now…_ ” he answered, his answers were becoming faint, something was preventing him getting through.

“Luna?” Zak’s voice ripped my concentration from me. I blinked and everything shifted back into focus.

“Yeah?” I murmured, casting a glance around the room to determine everything was as normal as it could be.

“You went quiet…and you weren’t responding.” He said, cupping my face in his hand. “What were you doing?”

“I was focusing. To communicate with Jay.” I replied bluntly. “I’ve been practising since the Skirrid Mountain Inn incident.”

Since that little occurrence on that investigation I had been quietly working on communicating with Jay, anytime I was completely alone – except the sharp exchange this morning – I would practise shutting out all distractions so I could talk to Jay clearly. I hadn’t told them this for fear that they thought I was putting myself in danger by doing this.

“Oh…I see.” He commented. “And…how’s that going?”

I swallowed, looking back at the staircase. “Um…Jay said that it’s really dangerous to go up there, but he also said that Nick and Ringo were okay…for now…” I mumbled. “But…there’s something else here still.”

He nodded quickly, turning to Aaron he said something quietly which I couldn’t hear before taking me by the hand and leading me back towards the great hall. I let him drag me through the huge chamber to a smaller room where he sat me down on a chair and knelt down in front of me.

“Are you okay? I don’t mean just physically, mentally and emotionally too.” He asked, one hand still clasping mine and the other on my knee.

“I-I’m fine, my neck hardly hurts at all now, and all the other wounds are pretty much healed. Um…I’m scared for Ringo and Nick being up there with that thing…I…” I babbled, I managed to keep my voice calm surprisingly. “…I’m scared of that thing Zak…don’t make me go near it….please…”

“It’s okay sweetheart.” He answered, squeezing my hand. “I won’t force you. We will be investigating the bloody chapel though, but I won’t make you go anywhere if you really don’t want to.”

I nodded and closed my eyes. The brief moment of darkness was strangely comforting, I was interrupted from it by a scream. My eyes flew open.

“What the fuck was that?” Zak asked.

“I don’t know. It was loud and it was close to us.” I muttered, quickly trying to sense any kind of presence.

“I think it was that way…” he murmured, pointing at a door different to the one we walked through. “…it sounded female.”

“Yeah…creepily female.”

He looked at me, I felt scared, something about that scream wasn’t good and I’m sure my fear showed in my eyes.

“Do you mind checking it out?” he whispered.

I agreed to go with him on the search for this voice, but only if he kept hold of my hand. I didn’t want to be apart from him now, this place had too much activity already.

We walked through the doorway and discovered a staircase, after a brief hesitation we ascended to the next floor. He paused for a moment, listening to the silence around us, the humid air hung around the building making it easy to notice any changes in temperature.

“Why don’t you try that focusing thing?” he mumbled. “Maybe you can find it?”

I nodded, I closed my eyes this time as I concentrated, there was nothing around – not that I could feel anyway, I wasn’t about to start claiming to be some kind of expert at this but Jay certainly wasn’t up here.

“Nothing.” I mumbled to Zak, opening my eyes. “Not Jay anyway and that’s who I’ve learnt to find. If he was here with us then maybe I’d be able to single out any different…energies…”

“Okay, let’s look around a little first but we’ll head back to Aaron in a few minutes.” He replied, squeezing my hand lightly. We walked down another corridor and ended up in a reasonably large room, this one had been having restoration done to it and tools lay everywhere.

“Well…this might be part of the problem…” I muttered.

“Yeah. Spirits don’t like it when you start changing their home.” Zak replied.

“I wonder where the oubliette is…” I sighed, I don’t know why it sprung to mind but now I was slightly curious.

“I think it’s in a room off from the great hall.”

A silence fell briefly, it was long enough for another scream to be heard, I had heard that scream before from somewhere…

“…where _is_ that coming from?” Zak sighed. “It’s distressing…”

My phone vibrated in my pocket, it was Aaron, Nick and Ringo had come back out and they were all waiting for us outside by the van. I relayed the message to Zak and we got out of the castle sharpish, just as we left I thought I heard it again, I had definitely heard that scream before…

  **~***~**  


The sun was setting, the day was ending, night was approaching. Aaron and Zak had set the x-cameras up around the castle including in the bloody chapel, the great hall, the room where the entrance to the oubliette is and in the oubliette itself. Nick had sat in the back of the van where the nerve centre was, he had been quiet since coming out from the storeroom earlier, Ringo had also been oddly quiet. I tried asking Nick whether anything had happened and he just shook his head and continued separating cables.

I was a little worried about this investigation, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. I was dreading going into the bloody chapel again, I was also dreading hearing that scream as I had decided that if it was familiar then it probably wasn’t a good thing.

“Okay.” Zak remarked as him and Aaron joined us in the van. “Final checks of the batteries and equipment before we get locked in.”

I automatically checked my flashlight and the digital recorder I’d be using for the start of the investigation, satisfied with the battery levels of both pieces of equipment I checked the battery in Ringo’s collar-camera, that too was full as someone had obviously just changed it. I gave Zak a nod to confirm we were ready to go.

“Right, Nick are you ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Nick replied. “Ready to go dude.”

“Aaron?”

“Totally dude.”

“Okay, let’s get ourselves locked in Leap Castle.” Zak declared, marching off with Aaron closely following, I ushered Ringo out of the van and let him roam a bit ahead of me with Nick sliding the door of the van shut and following us.

The all-too-familiar sound of a door locking in place brought me to my senses as we were plunged into darkness only seconds later. I had been urged to try and keep Ringo closer to me this investigation due to the activity already experienced so now I had to try and not fall over him in the pitch black room.

“Ringo, heel.” I quietly commanded, unsure of where he currently was, I felt a warm touch against my leg which was probably his head. “Good boy.” I murmured as Zak started doing temperature readings. The humidity had died down slightly but there was still heat radiating throughout the building, it was a steady temperature apparently – I wouldn’t know as I don’t know what’s considered ‘normal’ when it comes to Fahrenheit – and the EMF levels were normal for a castle.

“Okay, is there anyone out there who wishes to communicate with us tonight?” Zak called out. I assumed he was holding a digital recorder but due to the severe lack of light one can never be too sure.

My other senses were adapting quickly to the lack of sight, I could hear each of them and guess where about in the room they were, Ringo was sniffing around my feet at the stone flooring, Nick was stood a little bit behind me probably filming the general area and Aaron was filming Zak’s evp session.

“Speak into this light I’m holding, we’ll be able to hear you and play your voice back to you.” He carried on.

So we were going to be doing a live analysis then, I had wondered when we’d get around to doing one. Jay had been suspiciously absent this afternoon and it was concerning me slightly, I hoped he hadn’t had a run in with the elemental spirit.

“Okay we’re going to rewind the tape now, if you spoke to us then we’ll hopefully hear you.” Zak declared, finding me in the darkness and nearly scaring the crap out of me. I heard buttons being pressed and then the recording started. It was nothing but Zak’s voice and white noise, no voices, no growls, no movement, nothing.

“Where to now then?” I asked after we did another unsuccessful EVP session.

“Either the bloody chapel or the oubliette…” Zak replied, briefly taking my hand in his and squeezing it before letting go. “What do you guys think?”

“I’d say go for the oubliette.” Aaron said.

“I agree, let’s leave the bloody chapel for a while longer.” Nick added.

With that agreement settled we started making our way to the room which lead to the oubliette, a narrow shaft which prisoners were thrown down to their death – a simple ladder allowed access to the pit where three carts of human remains were found.

“So who wants to go down?” I asked, eliminating myself from the equation.

“Nick?” Zak immediately asked, “It’s not your normal morgue but it’s creepy as shit.”

“Yeah okay, hold the camera for me whilst I get onto the ladder?”

I held the small camera whilst he positioned himself on the ladder, ready to lower himself down to the daunting pit. He laughed slightly as I handed it back to him.

“You guys won’t be far right?”

“Nah, we’ll still be in this room probably.” Zak replied. “Have fun in the pit.”

“It’s an oubliette Zak.” I sighed.

“I know what it is!”

“It technically is a pit though.” I added.

“Thankyou!”

“But it’s called an oubliette.”

“Guy’s I’ll leave you to your disagreement on this thing’s actual name.” Nick sighed as he disappeared down below.

 

**~***~**

 

I don’t know how long Nick was down there but Aaron took Ringo off for a circuit of the ground floor, staying away from the bloody chapel, to keep them both focused. Zak and I sat in silence in the room with the oubliette waiting for something to occur.

I had found Jay again, or more to the point he had found me, he seemed stressed but wouldn’t directly tell me why.

“ _Please don’t go into that storeroom, promise me you won’t._ ” he begged.

“I won’t Jay.” I whispered. “But why?”

“ _It’s bad. There’s a reason Nick wouldn’t tell you about it. Just don’t go in there and don’t ask any questions._ ”

“Jay…” I whispered again. “You know I hate being in the dark.”

“ _Trust me Luna. You don’t want to know, I won’t be able to protect you from it, it’s too powerful._ ”

“What? The elemental?”

“ _Yes. Don’t be fooled by anything in this place, they’re all at its mercy. And for the love of God don’t go towards the screaming._ ”

“Why?” I asked louder, attracting Zak’s attention no doubt.

“ _It’s a trap._ ”

With that his presence was gone again, almost instantly this time. Zak was quick to respond to my sudden outburst.

“What’s up?” he asked, grasping my hand.

“…the screaming…it’s a trap.” I replied, I imagined that my eyes would’ve been full of fear had he been able to see them. “The elemental…it’s doing something.”

“Oh…any idea what?” he murmured.

“No, Jay faded before I could question him further. He said it’s too powerful for him to protect me if I were to encounter it.”

“…you’re definitely not going into that storeroom.” Zak stated.

Nick loudly emerged from the oubliette, he started complaining about ‘weird feelings’ down there, the sensation of being watched and he kept hearing whispers and moans. He physically shook himself once he got back to ground level and made a remark about warm and tight spaces to which I sighed heavily and Zak couldn’t help but laugh.

“Where’s Aaron?” he asked, taking the camera back from me after he had shaken any spider webs off of him.

“Dunno. He went off with Ringo a while ago, they’re somewhere in the building.” Zak replied.

“Maybe we should go and find them and then head to the bloody chapel?”

“Sounds good, do we need to change any tapes or batteries?”

“Don’t think so, depends how much activity picks up between now and then.”

I was then taken by the hand and we started making our way through the oddly cold corridors, the summer air didn’t appear to be present in the building anymore, instead it felt like October. As we continued to wander around practically blind in the castle I became vaguely aware of this…thing…following us. It wasn’t Jay, that was all I was sure of.

After a while of us calling out for both Aaron and Ringo and getting no response whatsoever, Zak decided to just proceed to the bloody chapel and start another EVP session. We got there and immediately I knew something was wrong. The air was thick, it was charged and fit to burst. Judging by the fact Zak stopped midsentence I guessed he felt it too.

“…this isn’t good…” he muttered. “Do you feel that?”

“Yeah…” I replied quietly.

“Same here…” Nick added.

“Something…something is here and it’s waiting for us.” Zak declared.

I was about to try and find Jay’s presence when we all heard something that sent chills through us.

“ _Zak!_ ” a high-pitched scream came from the storeroom corridor. A scream that sounded familiar.

“Luna?” Zak instantly asked, gripping my wrist in the darkness.

“What?” I replied quickly.

“I…I thought you screamed…”he stuttered, turning on his flashlight and bathing my face in a bright light.

“So did I.” Nick replied.

“…I didn’t Zak…that wasn’t me…”


	28. A nightmare unfolds

**A nightmare unfolds**

We all stood in silence, that must be why the scream sounded familiar to me; because it sounded _exactly_ like me. In the glow of the flashlight I could see Zak’s concerned face checking me over again and again – obviously not believing me when I said I was fine.

“…Zak…it’s playing with your emotions.” I stated. “You know it is.”

“But the elemental isn’t necessarily a demonic entity.” Nick said.

“It is unpredictable though.” I replied. “Zak don’t listen to it, I’m fine okay?”

Zak shook his head and pulled me into a hug, this was possibly a bad move as now the thing toying with his emotions definitely knew that something was going on and that I clearly meant something to him.

“Maybe we should take a quick breather.” Nick suggested. “Find Aaron and Ringo, regroup and take a few minutes.”

I nodded and tugged myself out of Zak’s hold, we made our way down to the great hall, the only room that had a light – well candle – on, and refreshed some of the batteries in the equipment. There was still no sign of Aaron and Ringo and I was starting to get worried, Zak noticed my tenseness when he brought me out of my thoughts and I jumped in surprise.

“Hey…it’s okay.” He whispered. “We’ll find them, they couldn’t have gone far.”

“I know but…it’s what Jay said about the screaming. It’s a trap…but what if Aaron heard it and…” I murmured.

“Shhh.” He said. “Don’t start that, that’s what this thing wants you to do. Keep calm and it’ll be fine, you have to keep it together sweetheart.”

I nodded. I noticed the flight case filled to the brim with equipment we hadn’t used yet, one of the small boxes caught my eye.

“The PX device.” I muttered, pointing to it. “We haven’t used that in a while.”

“No…why?”

“I think we should use it.” I declared, picking it up.

Nick sighed, bringing attention to him, he had been swapping tapes around in the camera and just stopped and started rubbing his head.

“What’s up?” Zak asked.

“I dunno…my head hurts.” He mumbled.

“That can’t be good...” Zak muttered, going over to Nick. I still had hold of the PX device and I started turning it over in my hands. My mind was cluttered with worries about Aaron and Ringo somewhere in this castle, unaware of what was happening right now, I closed my eyes and briefly focused for a few moments; there was no sign of Jay.

“My head…it just hurts and I don’t know why dude.” Nick complained. “It’s like a massive headache.”

“How long have you had it?” Zak asked.

“About…five minutes, since we left the bloody chapel.”

“It might be trying to attach itself to you Nick.”

“I know.”

“Fight it.”

“I’m trying.”

I looked at the doorway that led to the bloody chapel, I had this sudden urge to go up there, my conscience disagreed. My legs wanted to move, they wanted to take me up there but I fought back the desire to leave this seemingly ‘safe’ spot.

“Nick…” Zak’s voice was on edge, this couldn’t be good. I tore my gaze away from the doorway to look at Nick, he was leaning heavily on one of the chairs breathing loudly. “Nick…”

“I don’t feel good Zak…” he muttered. “Something’s pulling punches at me.”

My investigator instincts kicked in and I picked up the camera with my free hand to film this exchange, I ignored the now overwhelming desire to start walking towards the door and stood a little bit away from Nick and Zak.

“Tell me what you feel Nick.” Zak demanded.

“I just feel…heavy, my chest hurts and my head hurts…it’s like something is beating me up.” Nick mumbled in reply. “It just feels horrible.”

“Try and fight it Nick.”

“I can’t dude…I don’t want to…”

This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. Nick straightened up and looked around the room, something wasn’t right in the way he looked at Zak and then me, it sent a shiver down my spine.

“Nick?” Zak asked cautiously, backing away from him and towards me.

“Yeah?” Nick replied quickly.

“Are you…okay?”

“Yes.”

“…are you sure?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t like where this was going. Severe feelings of déjà vu were coursing through me, this was bad.

“Nick…you’re not yourself dude.” Zak said, his voice wavering slightly.

“…I don’t know what you mean.”

Zak put an arm out in front of me to stop me from attempting to walk over to Nick, not that I would’ve at this point – even I could tell he wasn’t himself.

“Nick you’re being affected by this…thing.” Zak told him. “Don’t let it win dude.”

Nick looked at Zak with a puzzled expression before picking up another camera and walking out of the room. Zak took the camera from me and beckoned me to follow him, we went down the corridor Nick disappeared down only moments ago, I still had the PX device with me for some reason as we searched for him. We passed many empty or locked rooms as we walked down the dark corridor, Zak using the camera for light and me using a flashlight.

“Nick!” Zak called. “Nick!”

No response. We continued searching, we were in the part of the castle that was slowly being renovated now, I had this nagging feeling inside of me telling me to turn back as we entered a huge room which had an odd feel to it.

“Zak…I don’t like this.” I murmured.

“Huh?” he asked, turning to camera towards me.

“There’s something weird about this room.” I replied. “It…it’s not right.”

“I…uh…damn it.” Zak muttered as we stopped, Nick was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the wall, swaying slightly from side to side, it was creepy.

“Nick?” I asked. “Nick are you okay?”

“Yeah…” he faintly replied. “I think…where am I?”

 “…we’re in Leap Castle dude.” Zak answered, “How do you feel?”

“Drained….” Was the only response we got. “I feel drained Zak.”

I looked at Nick, he seemed to be back to normal but I couldn’t ignore the feeling in this room. A few moments passed and we got closer to him, Zak pulled him into a friendly hug as I focused my thoughts on the weird atmosphere in the room, Jay was vaguely present but there was something bigger and darker here too. I was about to speak up and tell Zak this when the PX device whirled into life in my hand – I hadn’t even turned it on.

“ **MERCY** ”

“What…” I uttered before it continued

“ **HELL** ”

“Put that thing on the floor and back away from it.” Zak commanded, I did what he said and sharply backed off, turning my flashlight off in the process, he pulled Nick away from it too and we watched and listened for more responses. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my recorder, pressing the red button to capture any voices we heard from then on.

“Who is here with us?” Zak asked.

“ **BELOW** ”

“Below what? Below us?”

There was no further response from the box, I had a slight sensation of being watched but I flatly ignored it as we waited in silence for it to say something.

“What is below us?” Zak barked after a few moments.

“ **CHAPEL** ”

The bloody chapel…it wanted us down there. Of course it did.

“Do you know where Aaron is?” Zak asked.

No response.

“Answer me!”

“ **STAIRS** ”

The stairs to the storeroom…

“Zak…it wants us down there, it’s going to tell us that he’s down there ‘cause it knows we care about him.” I pointed out. “Chances are he’s not down there.”

“…I am aware of this.” Zak replied. “Tell me who you are.”

Nick had somewhat recovered from his experience, I could hear him pacing behind me somewhere – I wasn’t sure whether to be worried about this or happy.

“Who are you?!” Zak barked.

The device remained quiet. I decided to try a different tactic. “Do you want us here?” I asked, I could almost feel Zak’s stare on me at actually asking something.

“ **YES** ”

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. “Where do you want us to go?”

“ **DOWN** ”

“Down where?” Zak asked.

“ **CHAPEL** ”

The device then started making weird noises, it sounded like a car alarm going haywire. The room got cold, really cold, I shivered.

“Okay.” Zak said above the bizarre noises. “Okay we hear you.”

It stopped. We then heard a loud thud from the opposite side of the room, like a door had been slammed open. I immediately turned my flashlight on and shone it around, there was a small wooden door swaying open in the corner of the room.

“Was that you?” I asked “Is that where you want us to go?”

“ **…ZZZ…Z…YES..ZZ** ” the device spat out, it returned to making weird noises for a few moments before shutting up entirely. An eerie silence fell over us, Zak appeared at my side and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“That connects to the storeroom.” He said quietly. “The storeroom where it…resides.”

“…great.” I sighed. “Give me a few moments alone will you?”

“Yeah okay.” He left my side, probably to go and check on Nick. I closed my eyes and concentrated, Jay was tense, I could feel it in his presence.

“Jay…” I whispered.

“ _No. Don’t even think about it._ ” He replied.

“But I have to.”

“ _NO you don’t! You don’t ‘have’ to do anything!_ ” he practically screamed at me. “ _Just tell Zak you don’t want to go down there!_ ”

“Jay, Ringo is possibly down there with Aaron. God only knows what this thing has done to them.” I hissed. “I appreciate the fact you’re trying to protect me but they are family to me okay?”

“ _Please…just…please Luna._ ”

I had to make a choice; risk getting attacked to find Aaron and Ringo when I had even told Zak that they might not even be down there, or not go down there but probably have to go back through the castle by myself to avoid the storeroom. I trusted Jay, as although I just told him I was adamant that I was going down there I was hesitant, he _knew_ what was waiting down there for me.

“Okay Jay…” I whispered. “I won’t go down, but you have to come with me back through the castle.”

“ _Okay, I’ll try my best._ ”

I opened my eyes, it didn’t make a difference, we were still in darkness except for the thin beam of light that came from my flashlight. “Zak?” I asked.

“Yeah?” he replied instantly.

“Jay was just begging me not to go down.” I explained. “So I’m going to walk back through the castle to get to the chapel that way….if that’s okay.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Zak muttered, taking my hand in his. “This is a dangerous location.”

“I know. But Jay’s presence is stronger when I’m not around this thing. Considering it wants you down there it’ll be harder for it to follow me.” I reasoned.

“You’re making assumptions on unpredictable energy.” Nick chimed in. “I agree with Zak, it isn’t a good idea to go alone.”

“Aaron went alone.” I pointed out. “I’ll take the camera and the PX device with me, I’ll have Jay with me, it isn’t going to take long.”

They looked at each other uneasily, Zak pulled me into a tight hug. “For the love of God, be careful please.” He whispered, handing the camera to me after letting go.

“I will.” I replied. “I promise.”

He nodded, Nick gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder before following Zak to the doorway. “Stay safe Luna.” He said.

I nodded and picked up the PX device, trying to juggle all of the equipment took a while but eventually I ended up with the recorder in my back pocket – not recording anything at that moment – the camera in one hand, the PX device in another and my flashlight turned off in my front pocket.

“Right. Onwards.” I declared to Jay who had made himself known quite vocally.

I walked back through the renovated room and into the corridor that lead to the staircase Zak and I found earlier that day. Nothing seemed odd other than the odd lack of humidity. Jay was quiet as I descended the stairs, once I got to the ground level I decided to start talking to the camera.

“So Nick and Zak have gone into the storeroom, I decided against it due to what I had been told by Jay.” I explained. “Now I’m walking back to the chapel via the rest of the castle, we just had some impressive communication through the PX device which I have with me still.”

“ **HIDE** ” it suddenly spat out. I froze in the corridor. I panned the camera in front of me and then behind me. There was nothing around.

“Jay if this is some kind of joke…” I said.

“ _Not me. I swear on my grave._ ” He replied quietly.

I ignored the slight pun and returned to trying to figure out who was telling me to hide and from what.

“What should I be hiding from?” I called out, looking in the general direction of the camera. There was no response to my question. I calmed my breathing and slowly continued walking towards the doorway.

“ **SPIRIT** ” the device spat out.

“Spirit…” I repeated. “Jay who is communicating?” I whispered.

“ _I don’t know, I don’t have a clue, just keep walking._ ” He babbled, panic was clear in his voice.

“Okay…” I murmured, urging my feet to move down the corridor, my breathing was erratic and I couldn’t stop my thoughts running wild. I entered another corridor which would take me back to the great hall, I felt intimidated instantly.

“ _Something’s here._ ” Jay uttered. “ _Don’t say anything, just walk through._ ”

I nodded, using the camera as a guide I made my way down past the locked rooms. I was halfway down the corridor when a deafening screech ripped through me, accompanied with the PX device going nuts.

“What…the fuck…” I panted as I leaned against the wall. I panned the camera up and down the corridor before pointing it back to me. “I have no idea if you picked that up but there was just a loud screech…like an eagle or something…it was loud and then this thing started acting up again.” I held the little black box up that was still warbling away. “…that was fucking insane.”

I heard a click, something close by. I turned the camera to face the line of doors, half expecting one of them to start opening. The PX device abruptly stopped making noise, causing everything to fall into silence.

“Jay…” I whispered. “What is happening?”

“ _…if only I knew._ ” He murmured. “ _You need to get out of here though._ ”

I heeded his comment and turned to continue down the corridor.

“ **RUN** ”

I stopped and brought the camera to my face.

“…I am going to do exactly what Zak always says I shouldn’t. I admit, I am a little scared right now.” I whispered. “And now I’m going to do something else he told me never to do.”

I instantly took off running, using the camera as a rough guide to where I was heading and relying on my memory to get me to the sanctuary of the great hall. Something slammed behind me, I didn’t turn back – that’s how people in horror movies end up dead – I just kept running, my heart beating a mile a minute as my feet pounded against the stone flooring.

I blindly ran through a doorway and ended up in a small room I hadn’t seen before, I had obviously taken a wrong turn at some point.

“Shit.” I panted, bringing the camera up to face me. “Zak says to never run as that shows you’re scared, but I couldn’t care less at the moment. That thing said run.”

I turned on my flashlight and examined the room, there was an old wooden bed shoved against the corner, a small shelving unit against the opposite wall. I took a few moments to steady my breathing and compose myself before deciding to peek around the doorway I just ran through.

“Jay?” I whispered.

No response, that couldn’t be good.

“Is there anyone there at all?” I asked, swapping the PX device for the digital recorder. “Could you tell me how to get to the great hall?”

I had no idea why I thought something would tell me. A weird smell was beginning to drift through the area, it smelled horrible…like rotting flesh.

“ _Luna, it’s the elemental. Don’t make any sudden movements._ ” Jay whispered. “ _It’s hunting you._ ”

“Me?!” I frantically whispered.

“ _Yes._ ”

“Why?”

“ _How the bloody hell am I supposed to know? I don’t talk with these spirits normally!_ ”

I retreated back into the small room. The elemental was somewhere close by and I prayed that it wouldn’t come near me.

“Maybe it’s time to turn back to my faith Jay.” I muttered. Thinking about the things the preacher at my church told me when I told him about my experiences. “I think that’s the only thing that will save me right now.”

“ _…should I find Zak?_ ” he replied.

I nodded. I slumped down to the floor, silently praying that whatever this thing’s intentions were that it would go away, even if it was only for a few minutes whilst Zak gets here or if it was forever, I just remembered everything I had grown up knowing, everything I had been taught. ‘ _It can’t hurt you if you believe in Him.’_ I willed myself to face the camera towards myself. I placed the digital recorder on the floor and the PX device next to it.

“…it’s following me.” I said to the camera. “I smell rotting flesh which is one of the reports. I’m terrified. Jay’s attempting to find Zak. I hope they get here soon.”

“ **HIDE** ”

“There is goes again.” I sighed, pointing the camera at the little black box. “I’m not even going to ask it anything. If it wants to communicate it can.”

“ **RUN** ”

I sighed heavily, regretting the last part of that statement.

“ **HIDE. RUN. HIDE.** ”

I bit back the tears of fear. I faced the camera towards me. “…I really don’t want it to come here…I want it to leave me alone.”

“ **FOUND.** ”

I turned the camera to the doorway, there was a black shape hovering there. My blood ran cold. The camera froze, the PX device started going crazy. I glanced up at the doorway, this thing was there alright, and I could see it. Its eyes glowed and the smell of sulphur filled the room, making me feel sick.

“ **HELLO** ”


	29. An aftershock

**An aftershock**

My throat was dry. I swallowed and somewhere in my thoughts it occurred to me that maybe if I talked to it I’d be spared.

“…hello…” I whispered.

“ **FOUND** ”

“…yes…you found me.” I whispered, on the verge to bursting into tears. What the hell was taking _Zak_ so long to find me?

“ **MERCY** ”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to it, I just nodded and hoped for the best.

“ **CHAPEL** ”

“What are you trying to tell me?” I asked, aware the camera was still malfunctioning.

“ **ESCAPE** ”

I heard a bark from somewhere, the black shape distorted and disappeared, the smell subsided and I slowly regained the ability to think straight.

“Luna?” Aaron’s voice echoed throughout the corridor.

“In here!” I cried out, my voice wavering on the edge of hysteria. “Aaron!”

Ringo bounded in and started growling and whining all at once, Aaron quickly followed. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“T-the elemental.” I murmured as Ringo buried his face in my neck, licking my face and chin.

“Where’s Zak and Nick?” he asked, picking up the digital recorder, I picked up the PX device and handed it to him.

“Somewhere in the storeroom corridor…” I muttered. “I don’t know. Jay told me not to go that way so I came this way, things started happening, I ran, ended up here and then…it showed up…”

“Okay okay….calm down.” He said. “Did it do anything to you?”

“N-no…no…just kinda stared at me…”I replied.

“Come on, let’s find the others.” He said.

I nodded and stood up, I ruffled Ringo’s fur before we walked out of the room. The short trip to the chapel was made in silence, Ringo was sticking right next to me, my thoughts were all over the place still.

We arrived in the chapel to find Nick and Zak in the middle of an EVP session which quickly got abandoned when they saw us.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Zak asked us both.

“I am yeah…her on the other hand…” Aaron replied.

“What?” He instantly asked. “What happened?”

“Calm down Zak…” I murmured. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“…you…don’t seem fine.” He said.

“I…I think you need to watch the footage I caught and hear what I heard.” I said, holding out the camera to them. “It’s…intense.”

Zak took the camera and gave it to Nick who started rewinding it, the digital recorder was rewound by Aaron whilst Zak took me by the hand back down to the great hall.

“You’re not okay. Tell me what happened.” He sternly said.

I looked at him, my breaths were shaky, my pulse was still through the roof, realisation was setting in about what I had seen and experienced.

“…Luna…”

“I saw it.” I whispered. “The elemental.”

He looked at me in disbelief before pulling me into a tight hug. A few tears silently spilled from my eyes.

“I was scared…” I mumbled. “It…spoke through the PX…”

“Shh…it’s okay.” He replied, rubbing my back in a comforting manner.

“Zak…it was hunting me.”

“What?”

“Jay told me. It had been following me. Hunting me.”

“Calm down…breathe…” he said, pulling back. “Are you okay to continue?”

“Y-yeah.” I nodded.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

He took my hand and led me back to the chapel, Nick and Aaron were engrossed in watching the camera’s recording, they were watching it with wide-disbelieving eyes. When they got to the end of it they just looked at me.

“…woah..” Nick remarked. “That was intense.”

“Did you hear the audio I captured?” I asked.

“Yeah…you really are a magnet of activity.” Aaron replied.

“…yeah…” I mumbled, squeezing Zak’s hand.

“Okay. So that thing is ‘hunting’ you right?” Zak asked, bringing the focus back to our actual investigation.

I nodded.

“So it’s not staying in one place correct?”

I nodded again.

“ _It’s in the oubliette._ ” Jay’s voice came through loud and clear.

“…okay…” Nick remarked. “Are we going searching for it now?”

“Seems like it.” Aaron replied.

Ringo started growling, he had been quietly sniffing around the chapel, not reacting to anything in particular until this point. The air went cold.

“Oh my god…not again.” I muttered, clinging to Zak’s arm.

“Not what?” Nick asked.

A deafening screech ripped through me, just like the one I had already experienced, apparently I was the only one who heard it.

“What’s wrong?” Zak asked once I stopped gripping his arm for dear life.

“…didn’t you hear it? Feel it?”

“..no?” Aaron responded.

“That screech?” I asked louder.

“What…screech?” Nick commented.

“…you heard it right?” I asked Zak.

“…no, but I felt you clinging to my arm…” he replied quietly.

“…but…it…” I whimpered, letting go of his arm and running my hands through my hair.

“Luna?”

“I heard it! I felt it!” I snapped. “I’m not crazy!”

“Calm down, no-one said you were.”

“You don’t believe me do you?!”

“ _I heard it._ ” Jay’s matter-of-fact voice interrupted.

“Thank god for that.” I muttered.

The PX device in Aaron’s pocket whirled into life, it went absolutely haywire. Aaron quickly took it out and put it on the ground before backing away.

“ **MERCY** ”

“Again? It keeps saying that word.” I sighed. “It seems pretty determined to get mercy…”

“ **ESCAPE** ”

“I don’t like where this is going…” Zak muttered. “Who are you?”

“ **PRIEST** ”

“Wait…this is the bloody chapel, where one of the brother’s killed the other during mass right?” Nick deducted.

“Yes…but are you suggesting that the younger one is trying to scare the living crap out of me?” I scoffed. I knew I was being unreasonable but I was a little pissed that they hadn’t heard the screech that I had heard.

“…you said so yourself in the last investigation that some spirits use desperate measures to contact the living.” He pointed out.

“So suppose this is the younger brother, we know he wants to talk…say something.” I uttered.

“ **ESCAPE** ” it repeated.

“You’re telling us to escape?” Zak asked.

“ **RUN** ”

We all heard a loud thud from up the staircase in the storeroom. Ringo barked a few times before going back to his nervous pacing of the room. I glanced through the darkness at Zak who seemed to be having a battle with himself on whether to address it or not.

“Why? Why should we run?” Nick asked.

“ **DANGER** ”

“Oh come on!” I loudly scoffed. “Be more specific.” I was getting tired of its indirect answers.

“Calm down Luna.” Zak quietly murmured, giving me a cautious glance. “Something’s affecting you, just…don’t give in to it.”

“ **LEAVE** ”

“ _Luna…you need to leave this place, it’s not safe for you anymore._ ” Jay warned.

“Oh yeah Jay, like it was safe in the first place?” I snapped.

I got a quizzical look from Zak before he declared that we were stopping now. It was half four in the morning after all. He murmured something to Nick who abruptly took my by the arm and got me outside the castle.

We had a short…exchange…about my sudden mood change which finished with me deciding to sit on the grass by the gate to wait for the guide to unlock us. Ringo made his way out to join me, flopping down next to me on the dew-covered grass. I stroked his head whilst I silently sulked.

The sun was starting to rise when all the flight cases were packed up and ready to go, I actually felt exhausted now that we were finally done. I was convinced that if we were waiting for much longer I’d probably fall asleep.

“Oi, don’t fall asleep yet. We need to talk.” Zak muttered.

“Whatever.” I replied. “Why not now?”

“Because I want to get away from this place first.”

That seemed like a good idea, if I was being affected by something here then the hotel would be a better place for him to remark about my lack of control.

The guide eventually arrived, we packed the rest of the stuff up and got back to the hotel. Nick and Aaron took the cases and Ringo up to one of the rooms whilst Zak took me on a ‘morning walk’. No doubt to discuss my reactions to everything and whether I should still be doing this probably.

“Okay…are you still mad?” he asked after we had been walking around the small village for a while in silence.

“A little.” I muttered. “I just…it’s frustrating when you hear something but no-one hears it, but this screech literally ripped _through_ me.”

“I see…what did it sound like? Female? Male?”

“Like an eagle.”

“…right…”

“See? You don’t believe me.” I sighed.

“I do Luna. I’m just tired okay? I don’t want to go to sleep until I’m sure you won’t be going to sleep mad or something.”

“Yeah right…” I muttered. “Sorry Zak but I’m not exactly in the mood for this kind of talk.”

He took my hand in his and made me face him. His eyes were unreadable, I couldn’t tell what he wanted, what I had said that affected him.

“Listen. I care about you. I don’t want you having nightmares about any of this. That is why I want you to tell me when you’re scared or disturbed by any of this.”

“…Zak…I know you care about me. I don’t know if I’ll have nightmares. I generally don’t like admitting when I’m scared though.”

He nodded and squeezed my hand. “…if you have any nightmares…just come and find me okay?”

I nodded, he pressed his lips to my forehead and then we started walking back. This whole; being ridiculously close and not quite admitting I have feelings for him situation was getting long-winded, surely he wouldn’t be acting this way if he didn’t feel somewhat the same way?

Either way, we didn’t fool Nick and Aaron.

“You took a while.” Nick remarked, the comment sounded serious in his tired tone when it probably meant to be funny.

“Yeah, but it’s sorted now.” Zak replied, letting go of my hand.

“Okay…I’m going to bed.” He mumbled as he left the room. Zak nodded and looked to Aaron.

“Dude, I want to sleep too, so do whatever you gotta do and get out.” He muttered as he headed into the bathroom.

I yawned, my body felt numb with fatigue and I could feel a migraine coming on. Zak looked at me, his expression soft and heart-warming. He laughed lightly and picked me up. “Come on, you need sleep.” He purred into my ear.

I nodded and nuzzled his neck as he carried me over to my bed. He nudged the covers back and slipped me underneath them before wrapping them up around me.

“Sweet dreams.” He murmured, planting a kiss on my forehead.

I ignored the fact that sleeping in jeans is uncomfortable and nodded, before I started drifting off to sleep I vowed to sort out this situation between us later on.

**~***~**

I had another dream. Piecing together parts of Jay’s life was like a side job for me now.

 _“Jay you can’t be serious…”_ Ed, the freckled kid, remarked. We were walking down one of the corridors of Preston castle, it looked familiar in the way that I could remember how it was one of the only places that one could walk without being in danger of the ceiling collapsing.

“ _Why not? Everyone keeps saying that kid’s ghost is down here.”_ I apparently replied.

 _“I don’t want to get caught in the basement dude. It’s bad news._ ”

“ _Quit whining. You’re just a coward._ ”

The door to the basement came into view, my memories of what I experienced down there were coming back to haunt me. I wanted to tell Jay to stop this dream already but my curiosity was getting the best of me.

“ _In here._ ” I remarked. “ _Open the door Ed._ ”

The dream was distorting, I didn’t know what was going on, this hadn’t happened before. Before the basement door opened I heard a growl, evidently Jay and Ed hadn’t heard it – proving it wasn’t part of these events – it wasn’t a friendly growl. I then heard the same deafening screech I had heard during the investigation.

“ _Go down Ed._ ” Jay said over the screech, seemingly not noticing the noise that was rocketing through the dream, the image was distorting so badly I couldn’t tell what was going on.

I then heard another growl, accompanied with the PX device’s voice; “ **FOUND** ”

I heard my own voice scream, the dream disappeared, I woke up.

I sat up panting, the room was well-lit, Aaron was snoring with Ringo at the base of his bed, I glanced at the clock; it was two in the afternoon. After running my hands through my hair and feeling the sweat on my face I decided to find Zak. My legs shook as I eased myself out of bed, I got part way to the door when I had the urge to vomit, I got to the bathroom in time for me to throw up practically nothing as I hadn’t eaten much in the past 24 hours. I leaned heavily against the sink.

“Jay…what was that?” I panted.

“ _…I don’t know…that wasn’t what happened…nothing like that happened to us…I think something is attached to you…”_ he murmured.

I nodded. I had to get to Zak and I had to get there before I really came to terms with what had just happened and ended up in hysterics.

When I staggered into Zak and Nick’s room they were both still asleep, I clambered onto Zak’s bed and lightly shook him, he grumbled slightly before waking up groggily.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I had…I…” I uttered, reality setting in causing me to just collapse into his chest in tears. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him.

“Shh…okay, it’s okay…” he whispered. I heard Nick somewhat wake up in a daze and ask what was happening.

“I…I…it…” I hiccupped.

“Calm down…” Zak murmured. “You’re getting worked up. Just breathe.”

I nodded and gulped, my throat feeling dry, my mouth tasting acid-like from my vomiting. I took some deep breaths and eventually steadied myself. I pulled out of Zak’s hold and hugged my knees.

“Okay…so what happened?” he asked. Nick had sat up on his bed to listen to me recount the dream I had. My voice shook as I told them both what happened, it got worse as I got further to the end, eventually cracking and I couldn’t finish what I was saying.

“I…I…Jay said he thinks something…attached itself to me…” I mumbled.

Zak nodded, glancing over to Nick. I hugged my knees tighter as I tried to forget what happened, I needed to clear my head, I also needed a shower.

“I’m going to go and take a shower or something…” I mumbled after a while. “Don’t start panicking if I don’t come out for a while, I just need to unwind.”

They both nodded as I went back to my room and rummaged around my case for some clean clothes. As I locked myself in the bathroom my legs felt weak again, I decided that standing up for nearly an hour wasn’t probably the best idea, I fiddled with the water controls on the bathtub, lukewarm water poured out of the silver spout much to my relief. I poured in the complimentary bubble bath and waited for an adequate amount of water to fill the tub before stripping off my dusty and grimy clothes and stepping into the heavenly warm water.

I lay back in the water and stared at the ceiling, relaxing my sore muscles and sighing heavily. I had forgotten how nice it was to just forget the world and surround myself in bubbles. The water in my ears silenced the world, it was eerily peaceful, I could hear my own heartbeat as I lead there, contemplating how nice it felt there.

“ _Are you actually going to wash?”_ Jay’s voice shattered my peace

“Are you going to stop being a pervert?” I retaliated, sitting up and draining the water out of my ears.

“ _I wasn’t being a pervert…_ ” he muttered.

“Of course you weren’t.” I sighed, reaching for my shampoo, the scent of tropical fruits filled the small bathroom as I lathered my slightly greasy and dirty hair with it. “You just _happened_ to be here.”

“ _Of course, if there is something attached to you, I want to at least try to protect you_.”

“Fair enough. Can you at least not watch me? It’s a little weird.”

“ _…fine._ ”

I acknowledged his presence fading, as I rinsed my hair I made a mental note to get around to finding some kind of hobby for him.

**~***~**

I got out of the bath a while later and wrapped a towel around my small wound-ridden body. The scratches on my arms were practically gone now, it was just the ones on my neck now that had to fade.

“ _You do realise that you’ve been in here nearly an hour right?_ ” Jay suddenly asked.

“I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before you came back to annoy me.” I laughed lightly. “I knew I would be here a while anyway, which is why I told Zak and Nick not to worry.”

A knock at the door distracted me from Jay’s sighing, I unlocked the door and found Zak leaning against the doorframe.

“Uh…hi.” He uttered, looking slightly taken back by the fact all I was wearing was a towel.

“Hi…what do you want?” I asked.

“Um…just checking on you…” he muttered, a faint tint of red flushing across his face.

“Well I’m fine Zachary.” I replied. “I was just about to get dressed, what do you want?”

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again quickly, I heard Jay sniggering somewhere behind me.

“I…uh…was wondering if you were hungry. I was about to send Aaron out to get food.” He babbled, averting his gaze from me.

“Yeah food sounds good.” I answered. “I’m starving.”

“…I’ll let you..uh..” he stammered.

“Okay.” I smiled as I closed the door. “Stop laughing Jay.” I sighed.

“ _That was amusing._ ” He sniggered. “ _You should open the door to him wearing only a towel more often._ ”

“No.” I replied, pulling on my clean clothes. “That wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“ _Ah come on!_ ”

“No Jay…anyway, I want to ask you something.”

“ _shoot._ ”

“How do you feel about showing yourself to us later on?”

He went silent. I half-heartedly brushed my hair whilst I waited for a response.

“ _…I guess I could…if you want me to…_ ”

“Well you’re practically my body-guard of the spirit world so I think it’s the least I could do to actually know what you look like.”

“ _…okay…later though? I need to…find energy…_ ” he muttered, I could tell he was shy, I couldn’t blame him really.

“Yeah okay.” I smiled. “I’ll have to tell Zak and the others anyway. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

His presence faded, I took that as my cue to leave him be, I collected my stuff and went back into the room, greeted by Ringo barking happily and jumping up at me. 


	30. A revelation

**A revelation**

Aaron apparently couldn’t find any decent food for us, Zak was a little put out by this but then decided that we were all going to go out to some café he had heard of, leaving Ringo in the hotel room to sleep some more.

“Nothin’ like decent food rather than crappy takeaways.” Nick remarked as we all followed Zak down the village highstreet. The day was humid, just like yesterday, I was tired, no thanks to the bloody nightmare I ended up having, and it was probably showing.

“Come on.” Zak said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Cheer up, we’ll get some decent food in you and then address that problem.” He murmured as we entered a small café.

There were a few people sat down at little tables, none of them seemed to recognise us though – which was kind of a blessing really – as we picked a table near the back of the seating area. A short black-haired woman came and took our orders, Zak insisted I have a ‘big’ meal to supplement for the lack of food I had consumed in the past day, in fact he insisted we _all_ had fairly large meals.

“But I don’t feel like having a huge amount of food…” I muttered. “I just want a normal sized plate of food…”

“You’re just saying that because you’re tired and you threw up earlier.” He sighed, taking my hand. “Just try at least.”

Nick coughed loudly and started laughing, shortly followed by Aaron. Zak raised an eyebrow as they descended into muffled hysterics. I simply sighed, knowing that they were laughing at us.

“Quit it guys, we’re in public.” Aaron sighed once he managed to stop laughing. “None of this lovey-dovey stuff please.”

“Yeah, people might start thinking you’re going out or something.” Nick remarked, smirking as Zak blushed slightly, I felt my hand getting hotter and moister, I wasn’t sure if it was me or him causing it but it was kind of adorable.

There was a slightly awkward silence as Zak stared at the chequered tablecloth without saying anything, he lightly squeezed my hand every now and then whilst the conversation topic changed. I ended up with a permanent smile fixed to my face as our fingers entwined, judging by the looks the other two were giving each other – it hadn’t escaped their notice either.

Our food arrived, I was reluctant to eat at all but Zak was having none of it. He told me time and time again that I needed to eat to keep my strength up and be ‘fighting fit’ for the next stage in our trip. I ate about half of whatever was on my plate before deciding that I had eaten an adequate amount of food.

According to Zak I hadn’t.

“Do I have to feed you it or something?” He chuckled slightly. Nick and Aaron sniggered quietly into their food.

“I just don’t want to eat any more food Zak.” I replied. “Don’t force me to...”

“You’ve hardly eaten anything in the past few days though...” he sighed. “I don’t want you to faint from hunger or something right in the middle of an investigation...or anytime for that matter.”

“I know...I just don’t feel like eating.”

“Come on, try for me?” he murmured, taking my hand in his again. There was something about the look in his eyes that stirred something inside of me, something indescribable, I started half-heartedly eating the remaining food. I must’ve satisfied him when I shoved the plate away from myself the next time as he didn’t say anything, he simply squeezed my hand comfortingly and smiled.

“So...” Nick sighed. “What’s the plan for the rest of the day?”

“Dunno...” Zak answered.

“It’s about five...so it won’t be getting dark for a few hours yet.” Aaron commented.

“True.” Nick remarked quickly.

“I think I’ll go back and make a start on the analysis, you coming Nick?” Aaron declared.

“Yeah okay, you two have fun.” He said to us before they both made a swift exit from the cafe.

After a few moments of Zak complaining about ‘those skiving asses’ he paid for the food and gestured for me to walk with him outside. It was still humid, normally I didn’t like it when we had so much hot weather in one go but I had a secret love of thunderstorms so I put up with it forever in hope that one would roll in during the next few days. Zak caught me looking at the pure-white clouds in fascination and we quickly got into a conversation about how powerful nature can be. More specifically how many investigations had been postponed because of freak storms.

“I doubt we’ll get any crazy weather.” I stated. “I mean we only get crazy weather after the US has had some themselves.”

“I guess, but I do believe you are partial to a bit of flooding over here.” He smirked. We were walking through the village and weren’t really planning to go anywhere in particular, we just enjoyed each other’s company it seemed.  

“When it does snow it’s generally only about five inches, that’s enough to send everyone into chaos.” I laughed. “It’s ridiculous.”

“It is rather amusing from our point of view to see you British people descend into panic at a few inches of snow.”

“I’m sure it is, I went to New York one February and _that_ was impressive snowfall, yet everything was working as normal.”

“That’s New Yorkers for you.”

I laughed. I liked it when it was just me and Zak like this, not in a romantic way but just in a friendly-banter way where we could just laugh about something as mundane as the weather, no pressure from anyone and no worries about anything.

“Have you ever had a proper white Christmas?” he asked.

“...I don’t think so...we’ve had snow about a week before Christmas but it wasn’t that much, we had snow on my birthday like three weeks after but I don’t think we’ve ever had a ‘white Christmas’ so to speak.” I replied, my mind flicking back to the one time we had any decent snowfall when I was around seven years old.

“Would you like to have one?”

“Yeah! I freakin’ love snow.”

“Well...we’ll see what we can do about that then.” He declared, taking my hand in his. I wasn’t entirely sure what he was getting at but he seemed pretty happy with himself for whatever reason.

**~***~**

We ended up sat on a bench overlooking the countryside; it was getting slowly cooler out and darker too. I enjoyed getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life, almost as much as I liked travelling in general.

“You know, we should really talk about that nightmare of yours...and what Jay said.” Zak sighed, breaking the peaceful silence between us.

“Yeah...I suppose so.” I replied quietly.

“So, you heard the PX device right?”

“Yeah, then everything just started distorting until I woke up.”

“And what did Jay say again?”

“He said...it...something might have attached itself to me...” I murmured, staring at the greenish fields stretching out before us.

Zak was silent, I kept my gaze on the scenery as a way to prevent myself from bursting into tears.

“Say something.” I uttered, my voice shaking slightly as the reality of my situation sunk in.

“Luna...if something has attached itself to you then we need to at least attempt to get rid of it.” He stated. “And that can be quite...distressing,”

“As opposed to the nightmares that will inevitably keep haunting me?”

“...it’s not healthy to have something like that with you constantly. It’ll start to change you in bad ways, trust me; I know.”

I was quiet for a few moments, thinking about the possible ways we could get the spirit to leave me alone and not hurt Jay, it seemed almost impossible from my knowledge to get the darker one away and leave him unharmed.

“But...what about Jay?” I murmured, my gaze focusing on a flock of sheep a few fields away. “Any kind of blessing would surely drive him away too.”

“I’ll make some phones calls, ask some professionals for advice, but it’ll take a few days to get something sorted...and you’ll probably still experience some nightmares.”

I nodded, biting my lip as I held back a muffled sob out of pity. He pulled me into his hold and stroked my face lightly. “Don’t worry sweetheart, we’ll get this fixed and until it is I’ll be here for you 24/7.”

I leaned into his touch, feeling instantly better, I looked up him and he smiled at me. “...is there any chance I could...um...sleep with you tonight?” I whispered.

“Sure, if it makes you feel better then of course you can.” He replied. “Aaron’s always got Ringo for company.”

I laughed lightly as I remembered my excitable puppy’s limitless energy. “Thanks...”

We remained sat there for a while in silence, the sun had sunk under the horizon during our conversation and it was starting to get darker. I didn’t want to go though, it was nice to be sat there with Zak, I didn’t want to go back and face the nightmares that would inevitably occur. Then again I had Jay who would do all he could to protect me from them and I had Zak who’d probably stay awake all night if he had to if it meant I could sleep easily.

Those thoughts enabled me to willingly get off the bench when Zak declared that we should get back to the hotel before the others start making up crazy stories for Aaron’s vlogs.

After Ringo nearly tackled me to the ground when we walked through the door, we all sat down around the laptop that contained all the video and audio clips from our investigation. Nick and Aaron had been ‘slaving’ away watching them, they hadn’t gotten through all of them yet but had made a decent stab at it.

“What have you found?” Zak asked, pulling me to sit on his lap.

“Not much, we started off with Luna’s footage from when she was alone...” Aaron started, he kept glancing at Nick as if to hint something – Nick seemed to not notice this hinting, either that or he was just being an ass. “And, uh...we heard the PX responses and your comments on them...”

“I sense a ‘but’ here Aaron...” I sighed.

“We didn’t hear this screech you were adamant that happened.” Nick interrupted.

“We saw and heard your reaction, but not the screech in question.” Aaron quickly added.

I nodded. I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly so relaxed about this when earlier today I was ready to scream the place down if they said that to me. Maybe it was the castle after all...

“What else then?” Zak asked.

“So far we’ve got no other audio on anything but Luna did get...something... on video.” Nick replied.

“Show us then.” Zak demanded, his hold on me getting a little tighter.

Nick brought up a clip on the laptop, I instantly knew where I was, I was in the small room I had sat down in after running away from whatever had been following me. My pulse quickened as I realised what the visual hit was probably going to be. I buried my face in Zak’s chest as the seconds ticked by, I heard my own whimpers and the PX devices responses, I could tell it was coming, the moment I saw it.

“Holy shit...” Zak muttered. “That is...what the fuck?” his grip on me tightened more, I shut my eyes and sighed into his shirt.

“It’s bad quality I know but-” Nick started

“It’s...that’s insane.” Zak cut him off. “That’s what you saw?” he asked me.

“Yep. I don’t really want to see it again.” I murmured. “It scared me. I don’t wanna see it again ever.”

“Okay okay..shush...” he quietly replied, rubbing my back.

“I’m sorry...” I whimpered. “I just...I don’t wanna...”

“It’s okay, it’s fine Luna.”

“If it’s any help...that’s all we got.” Aaron muttered.

I looked at him and smiled weakly. “I guess it didn’t try to hurt me so that’s good...”

“That’s the spirit.” Nick remarked.

We sat quietly for a while as they told us which clips they hadn’t got anything on when I got distracted;

“ _Psst, Luna. I’m...I’m ready to show myself..._ ” Jay’s voice floated through.

I sat up and got off Zak’s lap, they all gave me a look of puzzlement as I quietly paced the room, trying to think of a way to broach the subject to them.

“Um. Guys.” I said after a few moments.

“Yeah?” Zak asked.

“I was talking to Jay earlier...and um...I asked him if-if he’d show himself to us.” I stammered. “If that’s alright with you guys...I mean I just want to know what he looks like and...uh..well I thought you guys would want to...”

Aaron’s eyes grew wide, Nick looked stunned and Zak...well Zak seemed caught between excitement and concern.

“He said he’s ready to...show himself...” I uttered. “I imagine we’d have to dim the lights slightly.”

“ _I don’t...I don’t want it filmed this time...not the first time...please..._ ” Jay whimpered.

“He doesn’t want it filmed though, not now...” I relayed to them. They all nodded after a few moments of stunned silence. I went to the light switch and turned the lights off, only the laptop screen and the bathroom light illuminated the room.

“Okay Jay...in your own time.” I said, sitting next to Zak on the bed. I could feel his presence a few steps away from Nick, the air got a little colder – which quickly turned into a lot colder – the hairs on my arms stood on end, I noticed that the others were sat quite tensely in their seats.

“Where is he? Like in this room – where is he?” Nick asked.

“There.” I said, pointing to the section of air that I could pin-point his presence. “Just give him time.”

We waited, our eyes focused on the area I had pointed out, there seemed to be a small section of mist forming slowly.

“What...is that?” Aaron whispered.

“Jay.” I stated. “It’s taking a while though.”

The light in the bathroom flickered slightly, I glanced at the laptop to find it had gone into hibernation. The mist was growing, it was about the same height as me now and starting to take the form of a human.

“This is insane...” Zak muttered. “Awesome...but insane.”

I silently urged Jay on, it was taking a lot of energy for him to manifest and we all understood that. I had no idea how long we were sat there for just watching this mist slowly growing, it had more defining features now, I could pick out Jay’s shoulders, his head and most of his torso.

“You’re doing well Jay.” I said, my gaze fixed on him.

“ _...it’s tiring..._ ” he muttered.

“I know Jay...but try, use my energy if you have to.”

“What?” Zak asked, I had forgotten that they couldn’t hear Jay most of the time.

“He’s getting tired, running out of energy.” I answered.

Jay’s entire body was now shifting into focus it seemed, I could tell he was wearing black trousers and white sneaker-like shoes, a button-up shirt and that his hair was messed up but nothing past that.

“Wow...” Nick gasped. “That is creepily clear...”

“I just can’t believe we have a spirit standing literally in front of us.” Aaron added. “I just feel like I’m dreaming.”

I smiled, the laptop was now completely dead and the bathroom light had gone out entirely – plunging us into darkness. Jay was somewhat glowing weirdly which gave of a tiny amount of light.

“Come on, you can do it.” I encouraged him.

I heard him laugh slightly, his body swayed as he did so. His facial features then came into focus; his eyes were a piercing blue (so much for the demonic black eyes that legends speak of) his smile was soft, his jaw line smooth and angled – if one were to assign a ‘face shape’ to him it would’ve been triangular – his hair was more defined too, I could tell it was a light brown, almost honey coloured, and not styled very well.

“Jay...” I exhaled. “You did it...” I suddenly felt tired, no prizes for guessing why.

“ _...this feels weird..._ ” he murmured. “ _I can see myself for the first time in years..._ ”

I looked around in the darkness at the others, Zak was speechless, Nick grinning and also speechless, meanwhile Aaron had his signature shocked face on.

“ _You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost._ ” Jay remarked loudly, falling into a fit of laughter. I giggled.

“…well…this is…bizarre…” Zak uttered.

“Yeah…there’s a spirit standing in front of us.” Nick added.

“This is so cool!” Aaron suddenly exclaimed

I looked at Jay, he seemed shy and shoved his pale and slightly transparent hands into his pockets.

“ _I can’t stay long…it takes too much energy to appear…_ ” he murmured.

“...Jay, can I ask you something?” Zak asked

“ _Go ahead o’mighty Zachary_.” Jay smirked. I suppressed a laugh, if Nick hadn’t have been in stunned silence he probably would’ve too.

“Why did you attach yourself to Luna?”

Jay’s image shifted slightly, like an old cassette tape would jump after hours of being played, he chuckled to himself lightly. “ _She’s different to the other people who’ve ‘investigated’ Preston Castle. I sensed a caring personality, an accepting one, someone who wouldn’t freak out and seek mental help when I spoke to them. I hated it there, I wanted out, when you guys came the first time around I thought about joining one of you but you already had...things attached to you, darker things_.” Jay replied. “ _When you brought Luna to Preston Castle she was...pure, for lack of a better word, nothing had attached itself to her...I...I just wanted to get out of Preston Castle and just go anywhere else. But then I started getting to know you Luna, now I consider you a friend..._ ”

“Oh Jay...” I sighed. “You’re more than a friend, I’d class you as one of my closest friends Jay...as cheesy as it sounds you’re practically my spirit guardian.”

“ _Bodyguard_.” Jay corrected. “ _Or would it be spiritguard_?”

“This is just...is this really happening? Are we really seeing this exchange between you three?” Nick asked.

“ _Yes, yes you are_.” Jay laughed. “ _So does that answer satisfy you Zak?_ ”

“...yeah...one other thing; how exactly do you protect her? What exactly do you _do_?”

Jay’s image flickered, his little smile faded and was replaced by a concerned look, he approached Zak and stood a few paces away from him. I could see Aaron _through_ Jay’s body which was a little weird.

“ _Spirits are capable of harming each other. It’s not like in the ‘real world’ where you get injured physically, it’s more mental and emotional. Someone people claim this is what starts nightmares.” Jay said in a low voice. “Whenever something tries to attack her, physically or otherwise I try to put myself between her and it – I get horrific reminders of my life, and my death which hurt like hell when they occur as a result of this. Which is why I’m not constantly around – I have to rest and deal with my own ‘injuries’. But that is affectively how I protect her._ ”

I hadn’t actually realised how much he put on the line for me, mostly because I never asked. He laughed lightly again.

“Wow...” Zak uttered.

“ _You do a good job of protecting her too you know_.” Jay smirked. “ _Don’t worry dude, I won’t steal her from you._ ” He winked.

Nick and Aaron burst out laughing as Zak’s cheeks tinted red in the eerie glow of Jay’s presence. I couldn’t keep back a laugh either, Jay sighed as he paced the room. Ringo somehow had gone back to and remained asleep through all of this, he woke up though when Jay approached him.

“ _Hey boy, it’s me Jay_.” Jay murmured. Ringo studied him with cautious eyes before lightly sniffing Jay’s outstretched – and slightly transparent – hand.

It was such a weird thing to be watching, Jay was behaving just like any living person, laughing, joking and just being _there_.

“ _I’d love to stay longer...but I’m running out of energy sources again...it’s like being a robot I swear..._ ” he chuckled, walking back over to the bathroom door. “ _Any other questions that you’re dying to have answered?_ ”

I shook my head, as did the others. “Take care Jay, don’t put yourself in harm’s way too much.” Zak replied.

“ _I’m not going anywhere you know, just not going to be visible.” Jay laughed. “But okay, I won’t_.” His image flickered a few times. “ _Don’t worry Luna, that thing will have a harder time affecting you now that I’m actually aware of it...I’ll do my best to stop the worst of the nightmares._ ” He said.

I smiled at him, he smiled back and then started fading. Soon the room was pitch black, I stumbled over to the light switch and bathed the room in light.

“That was so surreal...” Nick remarked. “...we’ll have to get him to do it again sometime.”

“ _You know I can hear you right? You **can** talk to me Nicholas._” Jay remarked from somewhere.

“...okay...” Nick had a bemused look in his face.

I giggled and looked at Zak, he seemed a little tense, I shuffled closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He turned to look at me and smiled.

“what time is it?” Aaron asked as Ringo jumped up onto him.

“About eight-ish” Nick replied. “Why?”

“I’m kinda tired...” I mumbled before Aaron could answer. My eyelids were drooping, I felt exhausted despite only being awake for a few hours, obviously Jay had used some of my dwindling energy to stick around. I heard Zak mutter something to Aaron and Nick before he picked me up and carried me into his room.

He carefully put me down on the bed, it seemed like I’d be sleeping in jeans for the second time today. I clung to his hand as he slowly backed off.

“Don’t...leave...” I mumbled, looking up at him.

“You want me to stay with you?”

I nodded and tugged gently on his hand. I heard him chuckle quietly as he led down on the bed behind me, wrapping on arm around my torso and pulling me closer to him. I pressed back into his hold and sighed.

“I’ll be here when you wake up, just sleep now.” He whispered in my ear.

I nodded and let my eyes slide shut, the darkness was warm and comforting as I hugged his muscular arm close to my chest. I had a feeling that I would get a good night’s sleep tonight.


	31. A revised plan

**A revised plan**

I woke up – I assumed the next day – actually led _on top_ of Zak. He was asleep thankfully so he didn’t hear the startled squeak that came from my throat when I realised where I was. I blinked a few times and tried to remember what had happened...if anything.

“ _I was beginning to wonder when you’d wake up._ ” Jay remarked.

“How long have we been like this?” I whispered, trying not to wake Zak up.

“ _...about an hour. I don’t really recall how it happened._ ” I could hear the glee in his voice.

“Have the others seen us?”

“ _Nick has I think...I don’t really know, I have other things to do then sit and watch you two sleep together._ ”

I suppressed a laugh, I rested my head on Zak’s steadily rising chest, listening to his breathing and heartbeat as he continued sleeping. I must not have been that heavy as he wasn’t really showing any discomfort as I continued lying there, either that or he had been working out again. I absentmindedly started drawing circles on his torso with my finger, his shirt was tight on him and I could feel his toned muscles through the fabric.

“ _...wake him up, I dare you._ ” Jay urged.

“No, he needs sleep just as much as I do Jay.” I whispered back, moving my finger up towards his neck and continued to draw circles and swirly lines over his collarbone.

“ _Come on, he won’t be mad._ ”

“I never said he would, I just don’t want to wake him up yet. Why don’t you go and annoy the other two?”

“ _Nick told me he’d shove me into a vase if I woke him up again._ ” Jay muttered.

I laughed, a little too loudly, at the mental image of a sleepy Nick trying to shove Jay into a vase. “What do you mean ‘again’?”

“ _...I may have...accidentally...woke him up twice already..._ ”

I giggled, Zak stirred from underneath me slightly, he sighed and opened his eyes slowly.

“...mornin’..” he mumbled, a small smile spreading across his face.

“morning...” I replied quietly.

“Sleep well?”

I nodded, “You?”

“Yeah...” he murmured, stroking my cheek gently, I leaned into his touch and sighed.

“ _And now you kiss!_ ” Jay’s over-excited voice entered my mind. I nearly yelled at him for that but then I remembered that Zak probably didn’t hear him so there would be no point.

“What’s the plan for today?” I asked, flatly ignoring Jay.

“I dunno...find out if Nick and Aaron finished analysing stuff, I was going to help them after you fell asleep but...we both know how that worked out.”

I felt myself blush slightly, he giggled.

“Have I ever told you that you’re cute when you blush?” he asked.

I felt my cheeks heat up even more, accepting compliments has never been my strong point.

“ _This is playing out like a Disney movie I swear...._ ” Jay sighed.

“You may have said something in the past...” I replied, ignoring Jay again.

A knock at the door startled both of us.

“Yo Zak, Billy called, he’s in Belfast.” Nick called through.

“What? He wasn’t meant to be arriving until tomorrow!” Zak called back.

“Well I don’t know dude. But he’s in Belfast now so what are we gonna do?”

Zak sighed and rubbed his forehead. I laughed and slid off him and got off the bed.

“I…uh I’ll call him myself then.” Zak replied as he sat up. “And why are you still yelling through the door?”

“I didn’t want to disturb you two.”

“So you shout through a door instead?”

“…yeah…”

I opened the door to find Nick standing there with a massive grin on his face. I raised an eyebrow at him before walking past him to get to my suitcase crudely stuffed with clothes, leaving any remarks he had for Zak to deal with. Aaron had fed Ringo so I just found some clean clothes – which I was running out of rapidly – to change into.

When I reappeared out of the bathroom, the equipment that had been strewn around the room had been hurriedly packed up. I looked around puzzled until Zak came rushing through the connecting door.

“We’re leaving a little ahead of schedule.” He told me, “Billy decided to get an early flight over here – annoyingly – and now he’s sat in Belfast waiting for us.”

“Well, that’s convenient.” I sighed. “So when are we leaving exactly?”

“As soon as we’re ready, Nick and Aaron are loading the van, Ringo’s already been seen to and is in the van waiting for us. Just collecting the last few things up here and then we’re off.”

I nodded and started shoving my stuff around in my suitcase, any organisation had gone out the window barely days into this road trip so now it was just all muddled up with no real system in place.

“So how long will it take to get to Belfast?” I asked as I zipped the case shut.

“About three hours I think.” Zak replied. “Assuming we don’t get lost…again…”

I laughed, remembering how long it took us to get to some of our destinations in the past because of poor map-reading skills. He started laughing too, eventually we stopped and collected the rest of our belongings before joining the others at the van.

“You took your time.” Aaron remarked as we came out of the hotel.

“So?” Zak fired back as he climbed into the front passenger seat.

“…well we’ve been here for ten minutes dude.” Aaron replied as he got into the driver’s seat. I slid into the back seat with Ringo and Nick for a ‘wonderful’ three-hour drive to Belfast.

**~***~**

“Hey guys!” Billy exclaimed as we pulled up in the parking lot of the airport. “Long time no see Luna.”

I smiled at him, ignoring the now cramped conditions of the back seat as he squeezed in. Ringo got shifted to the back of the van where all the equipment cases were to make some more space.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been subjected to the back seat of the van.” Billy said cheerily as Aaron started driving us to the ferry port, as if we hadn’t had enough of boats in our five hour crossing a few days ago.

“Sure has.” I replied.

“ _Just be glad I’m not cluttering the place up._ ” Jay remarked rather loudly, Billy seemed caught off guard by this but simply shrugged.

“So was that the elusive Jay I’ve heard about?” he asked no-one in particular.

“Yeah that was him.” Nick replied. “He woke me up twice at stupid hours of the morning.”

“Didn’t you say you were going to shove him into a vase Nick?” I asked. “Because that’s what he told me.”

A grin made its way across Nick’s face. “Yeah…”

 _“So glad you find it amusing…_ ” Jay muttered.

“You have to admit, the mental image of it happening is quite funny.” Aaron piped up from the driver’s seat.

“Well maybe someone should get a hobby Jay.” Nick sighed.

“ _There isn’t a lot to do when the person you’re protecting is sleeping on top of someone._ ” Jay said.

The van went quiet, I could feel my face getting red.

“Sleeping on someone eh?” Billy remarked, nudging my arm.

“ _Yep, they looked adorable to be honest._ ”

“Jay I swear _I’ll_ be the one shoving you into a vase soon if you don’t shut up…” I muttered into my hands as they covered my eyes.

“ _I wish I knew how to operate a camera…it was one of those occasions for the history books._ ” Jay continued.

“Jay, I swear if you say-” I muttered

“Oh look, we’re at the ferry port.” Aaron declared as he drove us through the checkpoint to join the line of vehicles to board the ferry. “Why don’t we discuss where our next investigation is whilst we’re waiting?”

“That’s a good point actually.” I added, eager to chance the conversation topic. “Where are we going?”

“The Edinburgh vaults.” Zak replied. “We’re gonna pay Mr Boots a visit.”

That was good enough explanation for me, apparently the ferry crossing would only take three hours this time, which was a blessing, I don’t think we could handle another endless boat ride.

**~***~  
Billy’s P.O.V**

There was something different about Zak. When he left Vegas to go to England with Nick and Aaron he was the typical Zak we all knew and loved (and in some cases loathed). However in the short time between them picking me up in Belfast to us being halfway into our ferry journey, I had noticed he was acting differently…

At first I just thought he was being over-friendly with Luna, joking around with her, pulling her onto his lap occasionally, even holding hands. That was when I started getting suspicious, what was weird about it was how Nick and Aaron didn’t seem to react to any of this, okay they did raise their eyebrows a few times.

I managed to get Zak away from Luna for a while when Ringo had to be taken for a walk, Luna and Aaron disappearing off to wander the ship and Nick to the restroom. I took the small chance to question him.

“So dude, how’s the trip been so far?” I asked him, taking a sip of my Starbucks.

“It’s been crazy…so much activity…” he sighed.

“You and I both know what I’m getting at dude…” I remarked.

“Huh?” He looked genuinely confused.

“Luna.” I stated. “What’s going on dude? You’re all over each other.”

His face flushed red, he made an attempt to reply but just opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish several times.

“I…uh…” He murmured.

“…come on Zak, I know you better than that. You _like_ her don’t you?” I smirked.

Nick returned before Zak could answer, he looked puzzled for a moment.

“What’s up?” he asked, sitting back down on the leather chair.

“I was just asking Zak what’s going on with him and Luna.” I replied.

A smirk spread across Nick’s face, that devilish smirk that means he’s plotting something.

“Oh… _that_..” he said. “Remember that I told you that Aaron was finding out if she likes you?” he asked Zak.

“Y-yeah.” He stammered.

“Well…I finally got an answer out of Aaron.” Nick was smirking away, drawing this process out as long as he possibly could and it was killing Zak inside – it was funny.

“Yeah? W-what did she say?”

Nick just raised his eyebrows and looked away.

“Nick!” Zak’s voice cracked slightly. I have to admit that it that whilst it was entertaining watching Nick do this…but I could only take so much of Zak whining.

“Tell him already Nick, you’re gonna kill him at this rate.” I sighed.

Nick rolled his eyes. “I was only having fun.” He muttered. “Okay, she said that she has ‘feelings’ for you. That’s all I got told. So you can decide how to work with that.”

Zak went quiet, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily.

“I’m guessing that you feel the same for her?” I asked.

He nodded and sighed again.

“Do you wanna hear my plan to get them together?” Nick asked me, he was still smirking.

“Sure.”

He went into detail about how we – Aaron, himself and I – were going to lock ourselves away to analyse the rest of the evidence from Leap Castle and any extra bits from the other investigations, leaving Zak and Luna free for a few hours. They would go off somewhere and assuming that Zak didn’t get cold feet he would make a move on her.

“Hold on, this is your plan?” Zak suddenly asked.

“Yes. Unless you have a better one.” Nick replied.

“…I thought I couldn’t be told...” He mumbled.

“Oh that’s plan B.”

“I thought-”

“No, _your_ plan is now plan C.”

“I am so confused…” I muttered.

“…why are you suddenly deciding which plan is which?”

“Do you really want to kiss her that badly?”

“Well…”

“Hold that thought, they’re coming back.” Nick said, gesturing to the stairwell behind Zak where the familiar Alsatian was bounding around Aaron and Luna as they returned.

Somehow Zak managed to act like this conversation hadn’t taken place, quite good acting on his part I may admit. The ferry eventually docked in some Scottish port, we reacquired the van and started the long haul to Edinburgh, complete with really bad Scottish accents and remarks about haggis.

**~***~  
Luna’s P.O.V**

Jay wouldn’t shut up about how I could’ve taken the opportunity this morning to kiss Zak. He kept reciting that childish rhyme that school-kids always jeer in the playground;

“ _Luna and Zak sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby’s carriage!_ ”

“If you don’t shut up soon I _will_ be shoving into something like a vase.” I muttered to him as I washed my hands in the restroom of a service station.

“ _Just get with him already._ ”

“Jay it’s not that simple.” I sighed, tweaking the stray pieces of my fringe that weren’t sitting right.

“ _Oh I think you’ll find that it is that simple my dear._ ” He crowed. “ _Just be true to your heart.”_

“Jay… I murmured.

“ _…sorry…I crossed the line didn’t I?”_

I nodded. “Jay…I appreciate that you want the best for me but at the same time this needs to be something that Zak and I sort out…okay?”

“ _It’s okay. I’ll just scheme with Nick._ ” He laughed. “ _But in all seriousness, I’ll stop being an ass about it if you want._ ”

I nodded. I made my way out of the restroom and back to the van, the wind was strong and the humidity was low compared to Ireland, I preferred it here.

“You alright Luna?” Nick asked me, I had no idea where Zak and Billy were, Aaron was filling up the van with fuel and Ringo was dozing across the back seats.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I replied.

“I dunno, just asking that’s all.” He smirked. Something fishy was going on here. One thing I’ve learnt is to never, under any circumstances, trust Nick when he’s smirking.

“What time do you reckon we’ll get to Edinburgh?” I asked.

“Well we left the hotel at nine, three hours to Belfast, another three hours to get into Scotland…two hour drive to Edinburgh…so five-ish?”

“Okay…”

“I hear it’s a full moon tonight, you should see it.”

“Is that meant to be a pun on my name?” I laughed.

He simply laughed, Aaron declared that the van was ready to go. Nick slid into the driving seat, Aaron into the front passenger seat, I urged Ringo to move to the very back of the van again whilst we waited for Zak and Billy to reappear. A few minutes went by with no sign of them, Aaron resulted to texting them, they got back though as he was typing out a text, Zak had spiked up his hair in the infamous ‘Zak-fin’ style. I willed myself to not let out any fan-girl like squeals at the sight of this.

Especially when he winked at me.

He lightly pushed me over so he could sit by the window and I ended up in the middle – it was force of habit that I ended up sat in the middle – with Billy on my other side.

“Sup?” he asked.

“…I…nothing.” I replied, tearing my gaze away from him. I could almost sense Jay laughing at me. Nick turned the radio on, filling the van with low-level music as we continued the trip into Edinburgh.

“…why don’t I believe you?” he whispered in my ear, causing a spark to run through me.

“I…uh…” I muttered. I had become speechless. I could definitely hear Jay laughing.

“…does this…distract you?” he continued.

I closed my eyes and tried to grab hold of any sensible thoughts I had left, Jay was in hysterics now. I opened them a few seconds later to find Zak staring out the window as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I looked at Billy who seemed on the verge of laughter but also staring out the window.

“How much longer we got Nick?” Zak asked.

“About half an hour or so I guess.”

The rest of the journey went without any more odd remarks or comments, we pulled up to a reasonably modern hotel, modern compared to the older buildings we had been staying in the past few weeks anyway. The equipment was unloaded, the rooms sorted, Zak decided he wanted me to be in the same room as him during the night so he could comfort me if I had any nightmares, the others didn’t protest, neither did I.

There seemed to be a bit of confusion about what we were going to do for the rest of the day, Zak said that he wanted to wander around Edinburgh. Nick and Billy were adamant that they needed to stay and finish looking through the Leap Castle stuff, meanwhile Aaron had taken Ringo for his own exploration – probably to record a few vlogs as well and left just as this problem was rising.

“Zak just go, we’ll be fine.” Nick sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Take Luna with you, we’ll be re-watching the elemental part so it might get a bit...intense for her.”

I slightly tensed at the mention of that occurrence, Billy just nodded at Zak to show he was siding with Nick on this occasion. I didn’t think much of it when Zak didn’t protest too much and simply led me away by the hand.

“So where are we going?” I asked as I settled in the passenger seat of the van.

“...it’s a surprise.” He said with a smile as he turned the engine on.


	32. Together

**Together**

Zak wouldn’t give me any clue as to where we were going, I certainly wasn’t expecting it when we pulled up to the iron gates of the infamous Greyfriar’s cemetery.

“Awesome.” I remarked, a smile spreading across my face. He laughed as we got out of the van and entered the fenced off field which is supposedly one of the most haunted locations in the entire UK. “But why are we here?”

“Just thought it’d be a quiet place to wait for those two clowns to finish analysing things, I mean it’s not the nicest of environments but it’s peaceful...in an odd way.” Zak replied as we walked along a gravel path with gravestones either side.

“I like it.” I said. “It’s peaceful, in a somewhat eerie way, mysterious too. Everyone buried here had a life, had a story, had memoires, shed tears of joy and sadness...and they’re all here now.”

“Yeah...some of them more evident than others.” He chuckled as we came across some of the more gothic headstones, ones with skulls and crossbones etched into the top above scratchy writing of someone’s name and date of death, the eyes were like bottomless pits with weird substances seeming to seep out of them.

“Is it weird that I’d want my headstone to have a skull on it?” I asked as we paused to look at a more grotesque carved skull.

“...uh...how about we leave your death out of any of our conversations? I don’t really like talking about my close friends and family dying.” He murmured, taking my hand in his and gently tugging me away.

We walked through more of the graveyard, pointing out unique headstones and statues alike, I lost track of time completely as we walked hand-in-hand past the larger plots, arriving at a set of gates which stopped us going any further.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to a large round tomb beyond the gates.

“I think it’s “Bluidy” Mackenzie’s grave. I believe he killed loads of people because of their religious beliefs.” Zak replied. “Come on, there’s a bench nearby, we can just sit and take in the atmosphere.”

I nodded as he led me to a stone bench back along the path we just walked on, we sat down – still holding hands – and silently watched the sun sink lower in the sky as dusk slowly approached. The graveyard was casted in an enchanting light as the sunlight bathed everything in a light orange glow, a breeze rushed through the area, rustling the green leaves of the trees and bushes, it was almost as if they were whispering to us in the wind.

“You okay?” Zak murmured after a while.

“Yeah.” I replied, squeezing his hand lightly as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Sure?”

“I’m fine, how are you?”

He sighed heavily before turning his head to smile at me “I’m good.”

I smiled in reply and pulled his arm around my shoulders, he hugged me close to him and pressed his lips to my forehead.

“Well, that’s good then.” I quietly remarked as he kept his face close to mine. “Care to tell me why we’re really sat in a graveyard?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” He replied.

I raised an eyebrow at him and giggled, he was such a bad liar it was hilarious.

“I just wondered if there was any specific reason for you to bring me here.” I said “After all, you said to Nick that you wanted to explore the city yet we’ve just ended up sat here for ages.”

“Are you complaining?” he asked.

“Well…no, I’m not complaining, simply exercising my curiosity.”

“You might wanna be careful of that you know, it’ll get you into trouble one day.” He said, running his fingers over my chin as he angled my face upwards.

“How so?” I asked as I looked into his eyes, that weird feeling awoke inside of me again, the feeling that spread warmth throughout my body and set the butterflies in my stomach off – all by simply looking at him in the slowly fading light of day.

“…you might experience something you won’t expect.” He murmured, the arm on my shoulders slowly gliding down to my waist.

“Care to elaborate?”

“I’ll show you instead.” He cupped my face in his hand and gently pulled it towards him, we were close enough to breathe the same air. My heart was slamming into my chest, the butterflies dancing in my stomach got more worked up, my lips quivered as I put two and two together.

“…Zak…” I whispered.

“You wanted elaboration.” He whispered back, a small smirk playing on his lips. “You’re so cute when you’re nervous….”

I felt myself blush, I was thankful that Jay had stayed true to his word and stayed behind with Nick – I wouldn’t of been able to take his laughter right now – I hastily nodded, bringing my hands up to rest on his neck, my thumbs brushing his cheeks. His tender grip on my waist tightened slightly, bringing me even closer to him. Our lips were barely inches apart.

“Do you still need an elaboration?” he murmured, his fingers ghosting over my face as he fiddled with my hair.

I simply looked at him for a few seconds, my brain seemed to have disconnected from the rest of my body and was just sat back letting this all play out, so I just went with what felt right and nodded.

He looked slightly surprised but quickly regained his composure, his fingers ran through my hair down to my neck, he tugged the few strands still trapped in his fingers gently, causing my face to tilt upwards slightly.

“Alright then…” he whispered as he pressed his lips to the corner of my mouth, he left small kisses around my mouth, eventually kissing me fully.

No crazy fireworks went off, no random flocks of birds flew out of nowhere. No typical Hollywood first kiss celebrations happened, but it still felt like I was on top of the world. My lips were shaking as he continued to kiss me. Eventually I managed to respond, I slowly moved my lips to meet his, a small moan escaped my throat, I felt him laugh slightly as he pulled back gently.

“…there’s something…something I’ve been meaning to tell you.” He murmured as we remained inches apart from each other.

“…y-yeah?” I asked, my voice hitching slightly.

He blushed and bit his bottom lip as he stroked my back. “…um…we’ve known each other for a while now…and um…I…” he muttered. “I just can’t get you out of my head…”

I nodded, gesturing for him to continue, my own thoughts screaming at me that he was going to admit to something, that I should tell him my true feelings for him, that I should do a lot of things like pull him back into a kiss to show him, but I slapped those thoughts down and waited for him to stop stuttering – even if it was cute – long enough to say what he wanted to say.

“…I guess what I’m trying to say is…I-I like you…a lot.” He mumbled, not even looking at me. “I mean I understand if you don’t…but…”

I literally couldn’t believe it. Okay things between us were a little ‘over-friendly’ and he had a habit of immediately asking if I was okay constantly, that he was a bit overprotective but I never really imagined that he had those kinds of feelings for me.

“…Zak…” I murmured. “…I…”

“It’s okay…I shouldn’t have…I’m sorry.” He babbled. “It was upfront and I probably-”

I pulled his face close to mine; I pressed my lips onto his gently before pulling away. “Zak, you never let people finish what they’re saying do you?” I asked quietly as he looked at me in shock. “…I-I like you too.”

He sighed, a smile breaking out on his face as he pulled me into a tight hug. I relaxed against him, trying to grasp hold of the emotions surging through me. Now I wish I did have Jay here with me to set my thoughts straight.

“Um…so now what?” I asked after a few moments of us just sitting there.

“…I don’t know…”

“Are we like…an item or something? Are we going to tell the others?”

“I suppose they’d only figure it out sooner or later…”

“If that was you asking me to be your girlfriend Zachary then I’m afraid you’re going to have to ask me properly.” I remarked.

He raised an eyebrow at me before shuffling away, taking hold of my hand and bringing it to his lips silently. I giggled as he coaxed me to stroke his face, even he couldn’t hold a serious expression for long.

“Okay, Luna…will you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?” he asked, his eyes seeming to sparkle in the fading light when he looked at me.

“Yes Zak, I will.” I replied, unable to keep myself from smiling, he leaned in and kissed me lightly.

“Well…looks like Nick’s scheme worked.” He remarked as we watched the sun edging just under the horizon, casting purple and orange shadows over everything.

“I knew he had something to do with it.” I smugly replied. “Go on then, what was his plan?”

Zak just laughed and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, the point is we’re now…together, you and me, and it’s the best thing ever.”

It was so surreal to be hearing these words from Zak, I guess it was just because he can be so different to how he was now. He had hold of my hand in his lap as we just nuzzled each other’s necks and laughed quietly. This was one of the most peaceful times I’ve had in a while, especially considering all that’s happened recently. If I could stop time I would’ve done so then and there in that moment when we were just together, happy.

“…Zak…” I murmured as the sun disappeared completely, darkness filtering through the area now.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Nick said it’s going to be a full moon tonight.”

“Really, well I can’t imagine why he would’ve brought that up.” Zak remarked. I wasn’t sure whether he was being sarcastic or not. “But now I have an idea.” He stood up and gently tugged me to follow him back through the graveyard to the van. We got in and he started driving us through the lit streets of Edinburgh, I didn’t question where we were going, I knew he probably wouldn’t tell me.

“You’ll love this.” He said after a while. “I’m convinced you will.”

I smiled at him in the dimly lit van, we weren’t in the middle of the city anymore, on one side of the road were lights from homes and businesses and on the other side was what looked like a hill in the dwindling light of the day. He pulled over on the side of the road and turned off the engine.

“Let’s go for a walk.” He said, opening his door. I followed suit as he walked around the van to meet me, he locked the van up and wrapped an arm around my waist. I leaned into his hold as we walked along a dirt path which slowly drifted uphill.

The sky was darkening quickly now, it wasn’t that cloudy and there was little chance of rain (even if we were in Scotland). We walked in comfortable silence up the hill, Zak having a firm yet gentle grip on my waist as we got closer and closer to the summit. When we got to the top the centre of Edinburgh glittered up at us, it was a breath-taking site alone, then I noticed the bright moon slowly seeming to rise up into the night sky, bathing everything in a silvery glow.

“Wow…” I exhaled.

“You like it?” he replied, placing a delicate kiss to my cheek.

“Yes…it’s beautiful.”  

“Not as beautiful as you.” He whispered. I felt myself blush, I leaned further into his hold, wrapping my own arm around his waist.

“I love it.” I said quietly as I pressed a kiss on his jawline. He turned his face to mine and captured my lips with his. A slow warmth started spread throughout my body as we stood there in the slightly chilly wind simply kissing in the moonlight.

“I mean it.” He whispered as we separated slowly, his eyes sparkling slightly in the silvery light of the moon “You _are_ beautiful, don’t you dare let anyone tell you otherwise.”

 

**~ Meanwhile ~  
Nick’s P.O.V**

 

So I had finally gotten Zak to take Luna out. Okay she didn’t necessarily _know_ it was that kind of outing but if all went to plan then she would soon enough. Billy and I took it upon ourselves to actually look through the rest of the evidence we captured at Leap Castle, Jay decided that he’d help us…or help as much as he could without annoying me.

“ _You know, you never did tell me how you were going to shove me into a vase._ ” He remarked as I finished packing away the digital recorders. I sighed heavily as Billy sniggered.

“I was tired Jay, it was like two am.” I replied. “What did you expect me to say?”

“I on the other hand…” Billy interrupted. “Would like to know how Luna came to end up asleep on top of Zak.”

“ _Oh, well she wanted him to stay with her so he held her as she fell asleep, and well he soon drifted off too...I think he kind of rolled onto his back whilst he was still holding her and she just followed…I don’t really know._ ” Jay recounted to us.

“…is that it?” I asked.

“ _Yup._ ”

Aaron walked into the room with a somewhat tired Ringo, he was holding his camera and was recording.

“So guys, what’s happening? Where are Zak and Luna?” he asked pointing the camera at me and Billy in turn.

“Oh…they’ve gone _out._ ” I replied.

“To-geth-er” Billy added.

“Al-one”

“Really?” he exclaimed. “Zak and Luna?”

I nodded, no doubt they were going to kill us if this video made it onto YouTube before they got back or at all for that matter.

“That’s kinda sweet. Where’s he taken her?”

We both shrugged our shoulders. “I told him not to overdo it, so probably just…out…I don’t know.” Billy replied.

“Aw…well here’s hoping it goes well.” Aaron sighed. “They’re adorable together really.”

I nodded, Billy told me about how he had seen a difference in Zak in just the few hours he’s been here, I couldn’t disagree; they were quite cute together.

Jay started laughing for some reason but wouldn’t explain himself so I just ignored him, maybe there was an inside joke with him and Luna about something.

“Any idea when they’ll be back?” Aaron asked, shutting off his camera.

“Nope. Dunno if they’re joining us for dinner either.” I answered. Billy’s attention had fallen to Ringo who was pacing around the room whining, something he rarely did but we collectively dismissed it as just typical dog behaviour.

“Jay?” I called

“ _If you’re going to threaten me again then I’d rather you didn’t._ ” he remarked.

“No…I was just thinking, humans and their pets have this weird bond right, well do you and Luna have a similar bond?”

“… _I guess you could say we do…I mean I can vaguely tell if she’s distressed or something. Why?_ ”

“I was wondering if you could tell what was happening with her now.”

He started laughing before sighing heavily “ _Nah, besides, she told me to leave this situation between her and Zak alone – which probably includes me spying on her._ ”

I simply shrugged. Billy and Aaron steered the conversation off to something technical that I wasn’t too bothered about, soon it was starting to get dark outside and I was getting hungry. We decided to grab some food whilst we were somewhat eagerly waiting for the couple to return.

Ringo was particularly unsettled and no-one knew why, it wasn’t a bad unsettled, he was just…jittery for lack of a better word; jumping up on one of us every few moments, whining and clawing at the ground as we walked around Edinburgh looking for a take-away of some description.

“Calm down boy.” Aaron said as Ringo jumped up at Billy for something like the fourth time.

“What’s gotten into him?” Billy sighed as the dog’s paws scrapped against his jeans.

“Dunno dude. Come on, I’m starving.” I replied. gesturing for them to continue walking down the street.

When we got back to the hotel – with Chinese food in hand – there was still no sign of them. It was a little odd as now the moon was out fully. I couldn’t help but smirk at how I probably had something to do with this having remarked to Luna earlier about the full moon, she probably brought it up with Zak and him being the romancer he is probably took her somewhere to look at it. I laughed to myself as we settled down to eat whatever Chinese concoction that we had bought for dinner, we had obtained some more food for Ringo whilst we were out so he was happily wolfing down something that probably wasn’t much different to what we were eating.

“You know, we could text them.” Billy said between bites “Tell ‘em we’ve finished doing stuff.”

“Nah. They’re clearly having way too much fun.” I sighed.

“Wonder how much longer they’ll be though…” Aaron added.

I was about to make some comment about their time-keeping skills when the door opened and the couple themselves walked in, Luna was giggling like mad and her cheeks flushed red. Zak had his arm around her and was grinning from ear to ear, it was an adorable sight.

“Oh, hey guys.” He said when he noticed us staring at them.

“Hey you two.” Billy replied. “Have fun?”

They both looked at each other before Zak kissed her cheek. That answered the question all of us had in our minds. “Yeah, yeah we did.” He sighed. She simply smiled and nodded, I had never seen her so happy before…it was quite heart-warming.

“Well…that’s good.” Aaron sighed. “Anything you need to tell us?”

I brought the heel of my hand against my forehead, either Aaron was having a slow moment or he was determined to hear them say it.

“Um…well now you mention it…” Zak remarked, looking at Luna, she bit her lip slightly before smiling back at him and then to us.

“Yes?” Billy added.

“…Luna and I…we’re together.” Zak said, pulling Luna a little closer to him.

“Finally!” I exclaimed, knowing full well that that was the only thing they could have to announce.

“Congrats dudes!” Aaron laughed. “Well it’s not like you’re engaged or anything but good for you!”

Billy just sat there nodding his head as he continued eating, nice to see where his priorities lie.

“Cheers. Right, I suppose we better rest up and then tomorrow we can start the prep for our…last investigation…” Zak said slowly. I saw the pang of sadness strike him as he finished his sentence, I should’ve realised that it’ll be a tough farewell for them now that they’re ‘together’, I put it out of my mind as everyone else agreed and went back to simply chilling out until it was time to hit the deck for the night.


	33. Jay's wonderful commentary

  
**Jay's wonderful commentary**   


A peaceful night’s sleep was something I didn’t get too often, especially given the recent events. However I managed to have an undisturbed night for once, I put it down to Jay’s protection and sleeping within Zak’s hold. I sat up in the morning light and looked down at him, he was snoring lightly, his muscles slightly tensing and relaxing with each breath.

“ _Ain’t that adorable?_ ” Jay squealed, I didn’t think he was capable of making such a high-pitched noise but I didn’t question it.

“Shh…” I whispered, my hand ghosting over Zak’s cheek as he continued sleeping. “You’ll wake him up.”

“ _That’s the idea my dear._ ” He remarked. “ _You could always do that cringe-worthy romantic novel thing of kissing him awake or something_ ”

I briefly considered doing just that but Zak actually stirred awake before I could do so. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes before shooting me the goofy smile that makes my heart melt.

“Mornin’ Luna.” He mumbled.

“Morning Zak” I replied, kissing him lightly, I faintly heard Jay pretending to gag. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah…you?”

I nodded and ran a hand through his messed up hair, he hadn’t showered so there were still parts of it stuck up with gel in odd places. I rolled my eyes as I inspected my hand which was now covered in little flakes of the stuff.

“I think you need to shower Zachary.” I remarked, splaying my fingers to prove my point.

His eyes lit up for a few seconds before turning almost predatory. “…you probably need to shower too.” He whispered.

I felt myself skip the normal blushing and turn almost red at what he was implying. I struggled to come up with a reasonable response and Jay wasn’t helping by hysterically laughing.

“…I…uh…maybe…” I stuttered. “I don’t…um.”

“I was kidding.” He said with a smirk. “Although I’m not objecting if you want to…”

“Zak!” I exclaimed, grabbing my pillow and hitting him with it. “What have I told you about toying with my emotions?!”

“It’s so funny though.” He laughed as I hit him again. “Watching you blush and become incoherent like that…it’s adorable.”

I stopped hitting him with the pillow and just laughed lightly. “But seriously, you need to shower.”

“Do I smell bad?”

“…no…but your hair is a bit…grimy because of the gel and it’s stuck up in odd angles.” I replied. “Now go, I want to give Kate a call and the last thing I need is you distracting me with your…uh…”

“Stunning good looks?” he remarked with raised eyebrows.

“You could say that.” I replied, quickly kissing him and lightly shoving him towards the bathroom.

He laughed and disappeared into the bathroom, I fished out my phone from wherever I had left it and dialled Kate’s number.

“You have to remember that I don’t appreciate being woken up Luna…” she muttered when she finally answered. “It’s nine in the morning in the middle of summer, what is so bloody important?”

“Zak and I are together.” I said, unable to keep a smile from spreading across my face.

“Ghost boy?”

“That’s Jay…and you _know_ that.”

“I know who Zak is, he’s the one with all the tattoos you never stop going on about.” She mumbled, I kinda felt bad for waking her up.

“Yes…”

“Well, good for you. Don’t forget to use protection.”

“Kate!” I exclaimed. “I’d expect that from the others but not you.”

“You woke me up Luna. How is the roadtrip anyway?”

“It’s…interesting. I’ve been locked in a basement and scared half to death by an elemental spirit.”

“Uh-huh…” she muttered.

“You don’t really care do you?”

“I’m tired.”

“I’m the one who’s being locked inside buildings from seven in the evening til four or so after a long ass day of travelling and then I have to actually do stuff.”

“You chose to do that though.”

“…true.”

“Can you like call me back later? I didn’t get to sleep until two.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah okay. Have fun with whatever you’re doing with your summer.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.” She replied. “Not unless you take the necessary precautions.”

“Sometimes I hate you.” I laughed.

“The feeling’s mutual.” She cheerily replied before hanging up.

Standard banter with my best friend, I knew I’d miss her once I properly started college. I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face in Zak’s pillow, breathing in his intoxicating scent, sighing heavily I let my eyes slip shut.

**(Zak’s P.O.V)**

 

I came out of the bathroom, still a little moist, to find Luna had fallen asleep again. Her hair was splayed out on the pillow, her small frame delicately rising and falling with her breathing, I wanted so badly to just let her sleep for all eternity if she looked like that every second of it.

“ _You know, she won’t be mad if you wake her._ ” Jay whispered, his voice still threw me off slightly when I did hear it but I was slowly getting used to it.

“But she looks so beautiful like that…” I murmured, quietly approaching her, “She looks beautiful every second of every day but even more so when she’s sleeping.”

“ _Excuse me whilst I gag._ ” Jay remarked. “ _But seriously, it’s sickeningly adorable the way you talk about each other_ ”

I stroked Luna’s cheek, she murmured slightly, leaning into my touch. “You watch over her dreams whilst she sleeps right?”

“ _Yes…why?_ ”

“…what’s she dreaming of right now?”

“ _…how am I supposed to know?_ ” He asked dramatically. “ _All I know is that it’s a good dream. She’s not in any danger from ‘it’ at the moment._ ” He said slowly.

“Well that’s good then.” I replied, gently running my fingers through her hair. “I’m going to go and talk to the others about tonight.”

“ _Okay._ ” Jay murmured.

I tore myself away from Luna’s side and made my way into the other room. The guys were already all awake and dressed, even Ringo seemed eager to get going.

“What time do you call this?” Billy asked, tapping his watch.

“Good morning to you too.” I replied. “I can’t help it if Luna made me take a shower.”

“She did what?” Nick smirked.

“She was complaining that my hair was dirty and still had gel in it so she told me to take a shower, I did, when I came out she had fallen asleep again.”

“And lemme guess; you don’t have the heart to wake her?” Aaron finished, he had his camera in his hand and this unsettled me slightly.

“I…yeah.”

“Aw…little Zachary doesn’t wanna wake his girlfriend.” Billy taunted. “Just send Ringo in there already.”

“…I’ll go do it.” I muttered as they cracked up in laughter. It was literally like having three annoying brothers with these guys sometimes. I went back into our room, she was still asleep. I lightly shook her, when I got no response I tried whispering.

“Luna…Luna sweetheart you need to wake up.”

She mumbled something inaudible, before rolling onto her back. I kissed her forehead a few times, then her lips.

“…Zak…” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around my neck and opened her eyes slowly, those pretty blue-grey eyes looking sleepily at me made my heart flutter slightly.

“You need to get up.”

“…I know.” She smirked. “But I just felt so tired…” she stifled a yawn, God she was adorable.

“I know.” I murmured, stroking her face. “But you need to get up, the others are ready to go already.”

“Fine. Give me five minutes or so then.” She replied, letting go of my neck. “because if you think for one second that I’m letting you stay here whilst I get changed then you need your head examined.”

“…um, I’ll be in the other room then if that’s what you want.” I muttered with a smirk, resisting the urge to just pin her down on the bed right then and there.

She raised an eyebrow and nodded. I kissed her quickly before leaving her to do whatever it is girls do when they get ready in the morning. Nick just laughed at me, apparently I was blushing again. Godammit.

 

**~***~**

**Luna’s P.O.V**

 

We left Billy to his own devices of categorising evidence and making phone calls to the travel channel whilst we went for our walkthrough. Edinburgh was awesome. At least in my mind it was, I had Ringo tugging me left right and centre as we got closer to the south bridge and in turn closer to our destination. The city’s architecture was intriguing and gothic, this was certainly my kind of town. Our guide was waiting for us at the entrance to the vaults, the walls were made of grey flagstone, lining the walls were odd markings – almost like scratches – with the only light coming from two candlesticks carried by Zak and the guide much of the tunnels remained in darkness. Ringo tugged lightly on the leash as we went deeper and deeper, through twisting passages and stopping in certain chambers to be told of notable events happening.

“This is Mr Boot’s room. He really hates people being in here.” The guide told us as Zak looked around the small chamber. “Especially if you shine light in his face.”

“Yeah…last time I told him I’d be staying in the corner where the girl’s body was found. He didn’t like it one bit.” Zak sighed. “The atmosphere in this room got insane really quickly.”

The guide nodded and started recounting much the same information they had from their last time here, when he was in the middle of explaining the yells heard from Mr Boots Ringo sharply tugged on the leash as he shrunk behind me towards Aaron - who was furthest away from the room - moments later, we all heard a low growl which caused Zak to give us all a worried glance.

“…what was that?” He slowly said. “and did we catch it on audio?”

“I believe that was a response to us talking about Mr Boots.” Nick replied. “My camera picked it up loud and clear dude.”

“Same here bro.” Aaron added.

Ringo whined pitifully, I tried to get him to come back to me but with little luck, he remained cowering behind Aaron’s leg, I handed the leash to Aaron and leaned against the doorway. Zak nodded to the guide to continue but his attention was clearly focused on the ‘darker’ corner of the room. Eventually he went and sat in the corner and started provoking Mr Boots.

“I’m sat in your corner Mr Boots, what are you going to do about it? I’m going to be sat here tonight as well. I want you to show your face to me, none of this growling nonsense. I want to see you.”

I felt the hairs on my arms stand on end, I glanced down at the goose bumps in slight confusion for a few moments before I noticed Nick had focused his camera on me.

“Cold?” he asked.

“No…just a weird feeling…” I mumbled in reply, waving my hand around the air surrounding my arm. “Kinda like static…”

“Mr Boots are you here?” Zak asked. The guide was beginning to look uncomfortable with this chain of events, to be honest so was I. I heard Ringo whining again and scratching at the ground, Aaron tugged his leash a little to quietening him down. My arm was still covered in goose bumps and I felt a chill in the air.

“Let’s move on, we’ll have all night to get answers out of him.” Zak declared after a few moments of silence.

The guide led us down to what was known as a double vault, a chamber twice the size of the others in every aspect. This was known as the Cobbler’s room, reports of an old Cobbler’s spirit sits smiling at guests, seemingly happy at the arrival of visitors in one corner. However a malicious female spirit apparently pushes people and screams in the faces of pregnant women.

“…you’re not…uh..with child are you?” The guide hesitantly asked me. I felt myself blush hard and heard Nick and Aaron sniggering.

“No. No I’m not.” I replied bluntly, crossing my arms across my chest, shooting Nick a death glare.

“Well there is also a spirit of a little boy named Jack. He’s a friendly spirit and will come up to you and hold your hand.”

“He gave us some of the most compelling evidence we have to date, that teddy bear moving when no-one else was in the room.” Zak added. “Luna, maybe we could get Jay to talk to him.”

I nodded, still blushing from the guide’s question, I just kind of wanted to get out of these tunnels, they were damp and musty, I also didn’t like the idea that Mr Boots was probably following us and plotting something. Ringo was restless and wasn’t staying still or quiet no matter how much we tried to calm him down, I managed to convince Zak to end the walkthrough so we could get out of the vaults and into a more relaxed atmosphere.

When we got outside I sighed heavily, Ringo flopped down on the grass panting, the others were in one of the last vaults before the exit so we just went ahead so we could wait for them outside. I leaned against a nearby tree and rubbed my forehead.

“ _Need to talk?_ ” Jay asked.

“Not really…” I muttered in reply.

“ _Sure?_ ”

“Yes.”

“ _Why am I not convinced?_ ” a small hint of laughter was in his voice.

“Because I can be really stubborn when it comes to things like this.” I sighed.

“ _What’s up? Or do I have to tell Zak? You know he’ll get really worried if I tell him something’s wrong._ ”

I laughed. “I’m just a little nervous. Mr Boots seems a little intimidating that’s all.”

“ _Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. He’s pretty easy to sort out._ ” Jay declared, he seemed rather full of himself all of a sudden. “ _I mean, his bark is worse than his bite_.”

“Thanks Jay…”

The others emerged from the vaults, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, things seemed pretty ‘normal’ actually. Zak wrapped an arm around me and asked if I was okay whilst Nick and Aaron thanked the guide and packed up the cameras into the van with Ringo settling himself on the back seat.

Maybe this investigation wouldn’t be too eventful, maybe it’ll be a reasonably calm one with no ugly scenarios occurring at two am, no attacks on anyone, no threats to anyone whatsoever. A peaceful end to their stay in the UK, a chance to have a peaceful night’s sleep with Zak before he left for Vegas…


	34. Endless tunnels and creepy vaults

**Endless tunnels and creepy vaults**

We returned to the vaults an hour before sundown. Ringo had relaxed a lot over the course of the day and was back to the eager puppy I was used to taking on investigations now. Billy and Zak set up a command central in the very first vault in the tunnel system, wires snaking their way to the x-cameras located at some hotspots; Mr Boot’s room, the double vault and one of the more active passageways. Nick had gone and placed the trigger objects we were leaving for Jack in the double vault, the teddy bear with an EM pod placed next it, meanwhile Aaron had been wandering around recording vlogs as he calibrated the thermal camera. All was good.

“You okay?” Zak asked me after I had zoned out again.

“Yeah sure. Just a little tired.” I replied.

“Has Ringo’s collar camera been attached yet?” Billy asked from inside command central. “I can’t see it on the monitor.”

I rummaged around in one of the bags and found the small black device that clipped onto Ringo’s leather collar, with a small click and a press of a button it was on and recording. Tonight we were going to try and have the footage Ringo caught live streamed like the x-cameras, unfortunately it would rely on the very faint wi-fi signal and would probably malfunction at some point if activity picked up.

“See me Billy?” I asked more to the camera than the techy sat a few metres from me in the vault.

“Yeah I see you Luna.”

I nodded and let Ringo go back to sniffing the cobbled flooring. Zak hugged me from behind once I stood back up, pressing his lips to the patch of skin below my ear.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he whispered.

“mmhmm.” I replied, relaxing against him. “I am, really.”

“Okay, let me know the second you aren’t…I don’t want you to feel pressured into bottling it up for the cameras or for our own purpose of investigation. If you are uncomfortable you tell me.”

“I will.”

He hugged me tighter for a few seconds before letting go completely, just in time for both Nick and Aaron to return from the final stages of setup. After a plan of action was agreed upon we were finally locked in to the vaults, the candles blown out, the cameras turned on, our last investigation was starting.

First port of call was the double vault, Zak wanted to get comfortable with the surroundings again before challenging Mr Boots, he started with an EVP session.

“Are there any spirits who want to talk to us? We just want to talk to you.” Zak called out. The darkness was silent, I could only tell where he was because of his footsteps on the stone floor, the rest of us remained absolutely still – accept Ringo who was off in the tunnels somewhere under Billy’s surveillance – in the stagnant summer air, although it was cooler than outside but not by much.

“Come and communicate, touch us, talk to us, use our energy.” Zak continued after waiting for a reply that never arrived. Memories of what’s happened when my energy has been offered up in the past came flooding back, I shoved those thoughts into the same closet that the nightmares resided, they were the last things I needed to have invading this investigation.

There was no reply, Zak was pacing the room slowly, keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, which turned out to be a good thing when we all heard three definite heavy footsteps coming from somewhere around the room. Even if it made no difference to me, I shut my eyes to try and pin-point where they came from, after all I was a little disorientated with all the twisting passages we took to get here.

“Was that you?” Zak asked, pretty damn obvious that it was – or at least to me it was – but I suppose he had to be sure. However there was no reply.

“Jack if you’re in this room with us, we left a toy for you.” Nick called out, changing tactics. “Feel free to play with it.”

I felt a slightly odd sensation, the hairs on my arms stood up on end again, this time it was accompanied by a cold breeze that chilled me to the bone. I wasn’t even aware that I had shivered until Aaron questioned me about it. A non-contact thermometer was brought out and the temperature read out – it was definitely colder now, a drop of a few degrees at least.

“Jack can you touch one of us?” Nick asked. “Take hold of one of our hands.”

“ _Just thought you’d want to know that Jack isn’t the one that’s here with you…_ ” Jay whispered. “ _It’s that psycho woman who shrieks and pushes people. Be careful. She’s too powerful for me to counteract…_ ”

I nodded, despite the act that no-one could see as it was kinda pitch black in the vaults. When there was no reaction or reply to Nick’s request I decided to speak up against Jay’s wishes.

“If there is someone here…who isn’t Jack…I want them to make their presence known to us.” I said slowly and clearly as I started walking through the cold air. “I want you to talk to us.”

There wasn’t a reply at first, after a few moments I thought I heard a scream. I turned towards where I thought I heard it resonating from, without any light to aid help to what I was looking at I was literally in the dark.

“Come on. I know you’re here.” I stated. “If you want to be taken seriously then you need to give us something to take out of here and show people.” I heard Zak sigh slightly, I knew he’d disapprove of me provoking spirits but I wanted to take matters into my own hands for some reason.

A louder, much more violent scream echoed throughout the room. My thoughts raced, for some reason I didn’t feel threatened by this, I had an odd sense of achievement welling up inside of me.

“Okay.” Zak said. “Let’s regroup and split up.”

I didn’t give it much thought that maybe he didn’t want me provoking spirits, it just seemed to be a good time to press on with the investigation. Nick and Aaron got sent down to the active passageways beyond the double vault whilst Zak and I went back towards Mr Boot’s room, we checked in with Billy who told us that Ringo was currently stood directly outside the room, just staring into it – or at least the camera was – and had been for the past few minutes.

When we reached him he was whining slightly, I peered through the handheld camera’s LCD screen at him, his ears were folded back, tail between legs and his fur somewhat puffed up, kind of like a cat’s would when it’s threatened, something about this seemed to foreshadow what I feared might happen when we start provoking Mr Boots.

“You good to continue?” Zak asked after I had been silent for a few moments.

“Yeah. Totally ready.” I replied, following him into the uncomfortable room, leaving Ringo in the doorway whining still.

“Okay Mr Boots. I’m back. I have a massive flashlight too.” Zak declared as he paced back and forth in the room, purposely making his way into the darker corner and blinding the area with white artificial light every few seconds.

“You killed that girl didn’t you?” I asked suddenly, I didn’t actually intend to speak during this phase of the investigation let alone challenge him. The look on Zak’s face when he turned to look at me told me that he _really_ didn’t want me to provoke anything, however my traitorous mouth refused to stop. “You killed her and left her body in the corner didn’t you Mr Boots?”

I heard Ringo growl slightly, the atmosphere in the room became tenser and the air heavier. I didn’t like where this was going but something inside of me wasn’t letting this go.

“Tell me Mr Boots. Why? Did she not satisfy you? Did she do something wrong? Did you start having _feelings_ for her?”

“Luna. Stop.” Zak demanded. “Don’t say anything else.”

I took a step back, Jay was muttering things inaudible to me, possibly to the malicious spirit, after all; he could probably see all of this unfolding right before his eyes. Zak began to do an EMF sweep whilst the room was silent, apparently there were a few spikes but nothing too extreme.

“Okay Mr Boots, I’m going to sit in this corner, I want you to come up and scream in my face.” Zak declared as he settled himself where the prostitute’s body was found. I leaned against the opposite wall near the x-camera, my handheld camera focused on him, as the silence continued.

Ringo walked across the threshold of the room, he stayed close to my side as I briefly panned the camera down to him.

“What’s up boy?” I whispered. He didn’t react which was a little odd, I turned the camera back to Zak who was inspecting the EMF detector.

“Mr Boots, I _demand_ you make your presence known!” He shouted, turning on the flashlight for a few seconds, blinding me temporarily. “Tell me to get out, shout at me, make me run out of here screaming.”

I heard a growl. I looked down to Ringo who was on edge again, I couldn’t tell if he was the one who growled or not. Looking back up at Zak, he seemed slightly put out that nothing had happened.

“Luna?” he murmured.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“…would you go and join Nick and Aaron? I want to get personal with Mr Boots and I don’t want you here when I do so.”

I thought about this for a few moments, I’d have to go alone through the double vault where the psycho woman is with only the handheld camera for a guide. On the other hand I didn’t really want to be around Mr Boots when Zak _really_ started provoking him.

“Okay…I’ll take Ringo with me.”

“Be careful.”

“You too Zak.” I said as I urged Ringo to follow me down the passageway towards the double vault.

It wasn’t hard to find the vault, I just had to follow the cables of the x-camera that was located in it, I was nervous, even if I wasn’t pregnant that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be targeted by the woman, I hoped that she’d let me pass through without screaming at me. Ringo seemed more at ease when we entered the large vault, it was slightly comforting to know he didn’t feel threatened.

“ _She’s still here._ ” Jay bluntly said. “ _She doesn’t like you. She knows how much you mean to Zak and hates you for it._ ”

“Seems like I can’t go anywhere without someone hating me.” I sighed, urging Ringo to keep going so we could get out without her acting upon her apparent hatred. We were almost at the archway to continue down passageways when I heard a low long bleep; the EM pod next to the teddy Nick left for Jack.

I turned, camera blurring for a moment as it focused on the toy on the other side of the room from me. It hadn’t moved but I was sure I had heard the pod go off. Ringo raced over to the toy, I followed him at a slower pace, wary of my surroundings.

“Was that you Jack?” I asked as I stopped a few paces away from the EM pod. Ringo was sniffing all around it and the teddy with great interest. “You can take it, we left the toy for you.” I said, keeping my voice light and friendly.

I decided to sit on the stone floor to appear less threatening, I placed the camera in front of me focused on Nick’s setup of equipment and waited. Ringo returned to my side and flopped down on the floor too.

The room was silent, the air stagnant and humid, although not an uncomfortable humidity just a constant reminder that it was August, only Ringo’s pants and my quiet breathing filled the void of noise. If I concentrated I could very faintly hear Nick and Aaron a few rooms away but not enough for any evidence contamination to take place. My eyes remained focused on the LCD screen, flicking up now and then to the darkness only to find nothing.

“Don’t be afraid Jack. The lights won’t hurt you, they just let me know you’re here.” I said.

I heard a faint shuffling from somewhere in front of me, I looked through the LCD screen, nothing had changed. The air felt colder, something was building strength, I had the same feeling I had earlier during the walkthrough, one of static energy in the air.

“…is there someone else here?” I asked, standing up and leaving the camera on the floor. “Someone else who wants to make themselves known?”

An angry shriek filled the room, Jay was right when he said she was still here then. I stood in the middle of the room with my arms folded over my chest.

“Okay. I heard you.” I bluntly said. “I know you’re here.” The air became heavier, part of me knew I shouldn’t be testing the spirit this way but I was getting tired of being the defenceless one during these encounters. Silence descended in the vault.

“Show me how strong you are then. You’ve pushed people, push me.”

I could tell Jay wasn’t exactly amused at my demands, he sighed heavily. I didn’t really think much about it then, Ringo whined pitifully from where he was still sat by the camera, again I didn’t think much of it. A chill ran through me, like I had opened the freezer door and all the cold air rushed at me, I lost my composure and stepped back, I rubbed my arms that were covered in goose bumps.

“…was that you attempting to push me?” I asked, trying to keep calm. “If so you did a pretty crap job.”

I heard a snarl, I then felt pressure on my shoulders, as if someone was holding me. Next thing I knew I was on the floor.

 

**(Nick’s P.O.V)**

We weren’t getting much activity in the passageway we were sent to, a few cold spots, a few scratches on the walls but nothing particularly ground-breaking. We had faintly heard Luna doing something in the double vault and assumed that Zak was with her, when we hadn’t heard his voice we were a little confused but thought nothing of it.

After a while we decided to go and find out exactly what they were doing. We walked through tunnels and arrived in the larger vault to find Luna led on the floor.

“Oh my God..” Aaron exhaled.

“Luna?” I asked, rushing over to her. “Are you okay?”

She sat up shakily. “…well…that was certainly something…” she mumbled.

“What happened?” I pressed her for answers, placing a hand on her shoulder, she winced slightly.

“I asked to be pushed. She pushed me. Simple really.”

“Where’s Zak?” Aaron asked as I helped her off the floor.

“Mr Boots’ room, he didn’t want me in there when he started provoking him.” She mumbled in reply, picking up the handheld camera she had focused on the EM pod. “So I was going to join you but then we got a bit distracted.”

I loosely hugged her, careful not to cause her any more pain than she was obviously in. I gestured for Aaron to go and retrieve Zak whilst I ascertained what had happened to her in more detail. She seemed okay other than the fact she kept wincing every time she moved her shoulders, Ringo had started pacing the room and sniffing the floor. I didn’t get much out of Luna other than a recollection of events, she wasn’t very specific about things. I somewhat feared she had a concussion from hitting the floor.

When Zak rushed in and immediately started asking questions I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, sometimes I think it would be a better idea to leave him in the dark – literally – and not tell him, but then again Luna is his girlfriend now so I suppose he has a right to know when something’s happened to her.

“I’m fine.” She mumbled into his shoulder as he hugged her, I saw her wince slightly as her shoulders were moved involuntarily by Zak.

“Are you sure?” Zak asked.

“Yes. Quit worrying about me already.” She sounded annoyed.

“But-”

“Zak, I am perfectly fine.” She interrupted, placing a hand on his cheek. “Let’s get this investigation back on track.”

He nodded hesitantly, clearly torn between embracing her then and there and ordering us to continue. I rolled my eyes once again, I guess I was going to have to take charge.

“Okay, how about we grab the thermal camera and do a sweep? Maybe swap out some audio tapes with Billy, take a few minutes to gather our thoughts.” I stated. No-one objected to my suggestion so Zak took Luna by the hand and led her back through the tunnel towards base, Aaron and Ringo following closely behind them. I did a quick pan around the large room as I walked towards the archway. “You’ve made your presence known to us. You don’t have to do anything else to Luna now.” I said as I started the journey back to base, I swear I heard a small laugh but I dismissed it as my imagination.


	35. An aggressive ordeal

**An aggressive ordeal**

I really wish Zak wasn’t so over-protective. So I somehow ended up on the floor right after I asked the psycho woman to push me, does it really matter? If it had been him or one of the other guys then they would’ve gotten straight back up and continued without hesitation. I understood that Zak cared about me and didn’t want me getting harmed but at the same time what we do is dangerous, there’re going to be situations where I get injured.

“…why do you keep wincing?” Billy asked as I sat in base with him. Zak and Nick had gone out to do a thermal sweep with Ringo so I was left with the two techys in the only lit vault of the entire system.

“My shoulders hurt…” I mumbled. Billy and Aaron exchanged glances. “What? They just do.”

“Did you hit them when you fell?” Aaron asked.

I shrugged, wincing at the sharp pangs of pain that rippled through my torso.

“Right, let me see your shoulders.” Billy demanded, standing up and approaching me. I gently pulled the sleeve of my shirt down on one shoulder so it hung loosely, there was a red mark where I felt the pressure earlier that was slowly purpling.

“Holy cow…” Aaron exhaled. “It looks like a hand…” he was right too, there were longer finger-like marks trailing off from the larger one, it pretty much covered my shoulder.

“Okay…do you mind us taking a photo? Evidential purposes obviously.” Billy asked. I nodded, he dug around for the digital camera, a few seconds later he had obtained the photos he wanted. “Now the other.”

I shuffled around in my shirt and pulled the other sleeve down, there was a matching mark on that shoulder. Pictures were taken in silence. I pulled my sleeve back up and stared at the cobbled stone flooring. A few moments of silence passed, no-one said anything.

“…Luna, something isn’t right with you is it?” Billy asked once the silence started becoming uncomfortable.

I shook my head. The way this entire investigation had played out with me so far was testament to that. How I had been so willing to put myself in the line of fire, even when both Jay and Zak warned me not too, how I ignored what I had been told about going alone, staying in the same room as the woman who hated me…it was all out of character and scared me to be perfectly honest.

“Hey…don’t cry…” Billy said as he wrapped an arm around me gently. I didn’t even realise that I had started crying until the choked back sobs started occurring. “Shhh it’s okay…”

“But it’s not…” I murmured between sobs. “It’s not okay.”

“Calm down, why isn’t it okay then?”

“Because it’s that _thing_ that’s attached itself to me. The thing from Leap Castle, it’s affecting the way I think and what I do and it’s going to continue to do so until…until...” I broke off into sobs again. Billy gently pulled me into a hug and rubbed my back comfortingly.

“Until what?” he murmured.

I shook my head, I didn’t want to think about what this thing’s ultimate goal was. Aaron handed me a tissue and I dabbed at my face, breathing heavily, the last thing I needed was Zak to come back and be put on high alert again, I loved that he cared so much but at the same time I like to be left to sort things out by myself sometimes.

“You alright now then?” Aaron asked as Billy retreated back to watching the livestream. I nodded and made an attempt to reassure him with a smile. Nick and Zak were in the double vault with Ringo, they were questioning the female spirit that had just pushed me – they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere – I just half-heartedly watched the other two feeds placed in the active passageway and Mr Boots’ room, expecting nothing to happen.

Boy was I mistaken.

The x-camera which was secured in Mr Boots’ room and hadn’t shown any extraordinary activity, not even as much as a bug had come into frame, no-one was anywhere near the camera, so naturally when the camera fell off the tripod and its focus ruined we all jumped out of our skin. Aaron immediately rushed off to tell Zak and Nick whilst Billy simply stared at the feed trying to figure out a rational explanation as to why our camera was now on the floor.

We heard Zak approaching the camera, his voice loud and hostile. The camera was picked up and we saw Nick following him into the vault as Aaron fixed the camera back into the tripod.

“Okay Mr Boots, did you not like our camera being here?” Zak asked. “Were you trying to tell us to get out?”

I sat down in Aaron’s seat at the computer screen, my eyes glued to the feed as Zak continued taunting the spirit.

“Are you such a coward that you can’t do anything to our faces? Come on, do something!”

A shiver ran down my spine, I felt a sudden urge to be in the room with him. I slapped the thought down, I was not going to give in to any sudden ideas I had for fear that the thing that was attached to me was behind them.

“You’re a coward Mr Boots. I was expecting more from you like last time.” Zak bluntly stated. Aaron had returned from fixing the camera setup and was watching over my shoulder, I had to remind myself that Zak knew what risks he was taking by provoking the potentially dangerous spirit the way he was or else I’d worry myself too much.

“Zak my camera’s battery is gonna die.” Nick said. Zak nodded in acknowledgment of this.

“Mr Boots, we’re going to send another person in here by themselves, I want you to do everything you can to send them running to us. Unless you’re too cowardly.”

Something about that statement unnerved me, why did I have this feeling of foreboding?

 

**~***~**

I should learn to trust my instincts more. Zak didn’t know about the bruises forming on my shoulders and no-one was going to tell him at my request, as far as he knew I had simply stumbled and scraped my arms slightly, so it really wasn’t surprising when he came back and asked me to go into Mr Boots’ room alone. Billy and Aaron gave me worried glances as I set off with the thermal camera in one hand and the digital recorder in another, Ringo was off down the other end of the tunnels near the active passageway and everyone else was going to stay in base and watch the feed.

As I neared the doorway I felt the goose bumps return, I also felt Jay’s presence faintly.

“ _Are you sure about this?_ ” he asked.

“Yes Jay, and that’s not ‘it’ speaking, that’s my own judgement.” I replied quietly. “I’d appreciate it if you hung around near the doorway if you can’t come in.”

“ _Of course, I’m not going to abandon you Luna. I’ll stay as close as I can._ ” He murmured as I stood in the doorway, assessing the darkness in front of me. I glanced down at the thermal camera’s screen; nothing out of the ordinary was showing up, just the cool walls of the vault in front of me and the camera tripod in the corner. I sighed heavily as I crossed the threshold of the room.

The air was cooler than it should’ve been, that was the first thing I noticed. The thermal camera was set down just inside the doorway pointing inwards to capture the entire space, leaving me completely blind in the process, I backed away slowly, digging out the digital recorder and pressing the little button to start rolling.

“Okay then. Zak told you to do everything you could to send me running to them. Do it.” I stated, bracing myself for all kinds of hell to be unleashed.

Silence. I waited with baited breath for any kind of response. Something stirred inside me to start provoking it but I ignored it. A little provocation wouldn’t hurt though.

“Maybe Zak was right then…you’re just a coward.”  I remarked, leaning back against the cool wall. “I mean, you’ve got such a reputation for being hostile to anyone that comes in here yet so far all you’ve done is knock a camera over…a little anti-climactic to be honest.”

Nothing happened, no weird-ass growls or voices, no movement, nothing whatsoever. It was getting harder to ignore the urge to just go all out and provoke him like Zak does but I knew better than to dumbly give in to those kind of urges.

“Come on dude.” I sighed. “You’re going to be labelled as a pathetic spirit at this rate, the entire world is going to know that you can’t even make a teenage girl run screaming from the vaults…”

A low growl came from somewhere in front of me, the hairs on my arms and neck stood on end. It seemed that I had struck a nerve in the notorious spirit of Mr Boots.

“Oh? Did that annoy you?” I asked. “Well I’m still not convinced.”

Nothing else seemed to happen, though I wasn’t going to relax just yet. I sighed heavily and waited a while for any other response. When there wasn’t any audible reaction I tried again.

“Okay, this is getting boring. Shall I go and talk to the psycho woman? She seems more than happy to communicate with me.”

The room seemed to get colder, but no noise arrived with the coldness. I decided that if I was going to get scared out of this vault then I’d have to get personal with him.

“Alright, I didn’t get to finish what I was saying earlier about the prostitute found in here. So why did you kill her?” I remarked, almost sensing Zak facepalming back at base.

A small shuffle caught my attention, I whistled to see if it was Ringo – when there was no reply I went back to focusing on the task at hand.

“How did you kill her? Did you make her suffer? Was it quick or slow?” I rattled on, feeling the air beginning to charge, a definite heaviness hung in the room now, I was bracing myself for an attack of some description.

“ _…you know…nothing…_ ” a harsh whisper hissed from within the stone walls.

“Well I beg to differ, I know you kept her here.” I tried to stop myself from going too overboard with the provocation but for some reason it was entertaining.

I felt a breeze rush into my face, goose bumps broke out on my neck and arms. Out of instinct I took a step back against the wall.

“Mr Boots, I don’t really call this scaring me out of your room.” I sighed. “Try harder.”

I heard a growl next to me, a chill ran down my spine, finally we were getting somewhere. I pushed myself off the wall and quietly paced the room, ending up in the darker corner where the body was found.

“This is where you kept her right?” I asked, kicking the stone flooring with the toe of my sneaker. “How long did you keep her here? I bet you enjoyed watching her suffer.”

A loud thud resonated from behind me, I glanced around the darkness for some clue as to what happened, I dug out my emergency flashlight and found the camera tripod had been knocked over again. I could tell the camera was still recording, I slowly made my way over to it and stood it back up.

“Try harder.” I simply said before returning to the corner. “Zak wants you to scream at me, make me run out of here like the scared little girl I really am.”

Another loud thud, I turned around and inspected the room with the flashlight again, the camera was still where I had left it and there was nothing else around that could’ve made that loud a noise.

“Okay, you’ve demonstrated that you can make a lot of noise, why don’t you actually try to scare me?” I declared. “Come on Mr Boots, use my own energy if you have to!”

A growl louder than before echoed around me, I was starting to feel uneasy in the room. I wasn’t backing down though, I had agreed to do this and had willingly provoked him so I had to follow through now.

“Come on you bastard!” I shouted. “Do something to scare the shit out of me!”

I felt a pressure on my stomach, like someone was resting their forehead against it only it was a cold pressure. My hands instinctively flew to my stomach, feeling the coldness, it kinda creeped me out. I backed away slowly, the coldness disappearing. I didn’t have time to respond as the camera fell over again with a thud, the air became heavier and a low raspy voice came from right in front of me;

“ _…get…out…_ ”

It took my brain a few moments to realise what was just said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” I said, although I didn’t want to be seen as being a cocky bitch towards him.

The voice replied, it was louder and sounded hostile; “ _GET OUT!_ ” the walls did a good job of making it echo.

I made an involuntary yelp and grabbed the thermal camera with my free hand before turning back around to search the room.  The screen showed an ice-cold room with the camera coming up as hot – which made sense as it was on afterall – no anomalies whatsoever.

“Once more you coward.” I demanded, ignoring fact I was about to run for it if he did repeat himself.

No response. This annoyed me greatly.

“Are you being serious?” I muttered.

“ _GET OUT!_ ” the voice boomed, that was enough to kick my survival instincts in and run for it.

 

**~***~**

I was still shaking two hours later. In the heat of the moment I hadn’t realised just _how_ terrified I was when it was happening, I blamed the dark force attached to me for that. I had returned to base and ran straight into the first person’s arms I could find, which ended up being Nick, and breaking down in tears of terror. Zak stormed out with Aaron declaring that the investigation was over and to start packing down. I was too busy sobbing into Nick to care.

All the equipment was gathered up, Ringo was retrieved from the tunnels, I peeled myself away from Nick so he could help pack it away. I sat with Ringo as everything was organised around us, I still felt a bit shaken up about this entire ordeal. We were finally unlocked at six am by the guide, it took barely fifteen minutes to get everything into the van and bid farewell to the friendly guide and not so friendly vaults. I was somewhat dreading getting back to the hotel and the awkward moment when Zak discovers my bruises.

“Are you okay now then?” He asked as the connecting door between our rooms shut quietly, Ringo settling himself down on the floor at the end of the bed.

“…yeah.” I replied quietly, trying to figure out what I was going to sleep in if I wanted to keep my bruises a secret.

“Luna…” he mumbled, moving to hug me. “…what’s wrong? You’ve been really quiet since we all met up at base…”

I flinched slightly as he hugged me, he pulled back abruptly and looked at me quizzically, I avoided his gaze, somewhat ashamed at myself for not telling him earlier but not wanting to say anything.

“…sweetheart..” he whispered. “Have I upset you?” his voice cracked slightly.

I shook my head and tugged at a stray piece of hair. I looked up at him, his facial expression was crossed between hurt and confused.

“…I…I need to show you something…” I uttered, pushing him so he sat down on the bed. He nodded in reply. I slowly removed my top, revealing the two hand-print bruises on my shoulders, he quietly gasped. “I…I wanted to tell you but…” I mumbled, folding my arms over my stomach.

“Don’t worry.” He said quickly, standing up. “I don’t mind, but…how did you get these?” He asked, lightly tracing the marks with his fingers.

“…the psycho woman…”

“Who?”

Then it hit me, he didn’t actually know that I had been pushed to the ground by a ghost. I stared at the floor and mumbled out what had happened, he ran a hand through his hair before pulling me into his hold. He pressed his lips to my forehead and sighed heavily.

“…okay…you told one of the guys right? Pictures were taken right? ‘cause that’s the first thing.” He asked, I nodded. “Right, have these been treated?”

I shook my head. He made me sit on the bed whilst he went rummaging through bags, he came back with a small bag of medical supplies. Once he was stood in front of me he started lightly rubbing in some weird smelling cream onto them, it was cool and stung slightly but it was slowly soothing the pain.

After a while he deemed his work to be done and packed it all up, he then sat on the bed and pulled me closer to him, I wrapped my legs around his body and rested my head against his chest. I sighed, exhausted from the night’s events but not wanting to fall asleep.

“…I love you.” Zak whispered as he brought his arms around my waist and held me gently. “Remember that okay?”

“I will Zak…” I replied quietly into his chest.

“I don’t want you to feel bad about telling me when you get attacked okay? I mean, I care about you and okay sometimes I’m a little over-protective, but it’s because I don’t want to lose you…and when you get hurt I just feel like I’ve failed you…” he rambled, his voice cracking every now and then. I now felt guilty.

“Zak…it’s not that you failed me, it’s…I was doing what you told me to do and find Nick and Aaron but…something inside of me just wouldn’t let it happen…I think whatever I picked up from Leap castle is really screwing with me.”

He didn’t say anything, I looked up at him…was he _crying_?

“Zak…” I whispered. “I..I didn’t…”

“Shh…it’s okay.” He murmured. “I just care about you so much that the fact that something is screwing with you so much that you got hurt…I should’ve been more careful with you…Luna I’m so sorry.”

We were both tired and emotional. I pressed my lips onto his, he parted his lips slightly and sighed into mine, I didn’t make a move to deepen the kiss, we just sat insanely close to each other, breathing the same air. Eventually he moved me so that we were lying down, still staring at each other as the early morning light started drifting through the curtains.

“…we should sleep.” He whispered, stroking my cheek.

“Yeah…” I replied, turning into his hand.

“Well, sleep tight.” He murmured, planting a kiss on my lips as he pulled me closer to him.

“You too Zak.” I whispered, letting my eyes slip shut, breathing in his scent as I gradually fell into a deep slumber.


	36. The final night

**The final night**

Sleeping in jeans is not very comfortable, waking up next to Zak put my discomfort out of my mind; he was still asleep, breathing lightly with one arm still wrapped around me and the other flung over his head on the pillow – it was quite adorable.

I gently sat up, my shoulders reminding me that I had massive bruises on them, I sighed and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. It occurred to me then that once we were done here in Scotland that the guys would be returning to Vegas, I’d have to struggle with the ‘thing’ by myself.

“ _You’re forgetting that you have me…_ ” Jay’s somewhat annoyed voice whispered.

“I know…but you said so yourself that it’s hard to fight it constantly…” I whispered back. “Plus…Zak and I…”

“ _I don’t need you to spell that part out, you love him, he loves you – let’s leave that there._ ”

I rolled me eyes and sighed, Zak stirred next to me and moved closer to me, resting his head on my lap. I let my fingers run through his hair as he continued sleeping, he mumbled something incoherent and I fought back a small giggle. A knock at the door snapped me out of my thoughts and also made me realise I was sat in my bra with Zak asleep on my lap with no way of getting any clothing to me.

“Jay!” I hissed, “Help?”

I heard him sigh before his presence disappeared, I then heard a short exchange between Billy and someone, who I assumed was Jay, during this time I managed to stretch my aching shoulders as I reached for my shirt which was on the floor. I barely got it on when the door swung open and Billy walked in.

“You alright?” he asked, his eyes wandering down to the still-sleeping Zak on my lap.

“Yeah thanks, he’s still asleep in case you couldn’t tell.” I replied, failing to fight back a smile.

“Adorable.” Billy smiled. “Um I’ve sent Nick to get some food so he’ll be back in about half an hour probably, just thought you’d like to know.”

I nodded and he disappeared back through the door. Ringo had woken up and decided to jump onto the bed, waking Zak up in the process.

“Ugh…bloody dog…” Zak grumbled as Ringo licked his face. I couldn’t hold back the laughter that was building inside of me, Zak looked at me bewilderedly and started laughing too.

The laughter quickly died down, he stroked my cheek and kissed me firmly, I held his face in my hands and deepened the kiss. His hand lingered on my neck as I let him roam my mouth – regardless of the morning breath we both had – he moaned slightly as my hands then found their way up under his shirt to the toned muscles.

“ _Excuse me whilst I vomit…_ ” Jay muttered, we didn’t pay much attention to him although Zak did pull back with a small smirk.

“Good morning to you too.” He said. I giggled in reply. “How are your shoulders?”

I shrugged them to find out, they screamed in pain but they felt a little better than earlier. Zak read my facial expression and found the weird cream again and applied it to my bruises, boy these were going to be fun to explain to people.

**~***~**

Nick returned with food from Subway, we sat in the other room eating whilst Billy brought up various clips that he felt we needed to watch from last night’s investigation and several audio clips. There wasn’t anything too outstanding to begin with, however once we got to the thermal imaging camera there was something interesting that perplexed all of us.

“What is that?” Aaron asked with a mouthful of food.

“Dunno, it kinda looks like a rat or something but there wasn’t any sign of wildlife inside the vaults.” Billy replied, freezing the footage, I could tell that it was in one of the passages we didn’t really explore, this was obviously from when Zak and Nick went to do a thermal sweep of the vaults.

“What else could it be?” Zak asked.

“I suppose it could be…well it’s too small to be Ringo…” Nick speculated. “The only thing I can think of is a little critter but there weren’t any other sightings other than this one…”

“So it’s unexplained then.” I stated. “Possibly paranormal.”

A few grunts of agreement was all that concluded the discussion as Billy showed us small anomalies that we caught like orbs, the odd voice whispering incoherent words, even a shadow darting across a passageway when no-one was anywhere near it. We got to the last clip of video footage; the x-camera in the double vault showing the REM pod next to the teddy bear that we left for Jack as well as one of two archways to different tunnels.

“So, Luna you might remember that the reason you stopped in the vault was because you thought you heard the pod go off.” Billy said.

“Yeah…” I replied slowly. “So did we catch it?”

“Well we caught _something_ unrelated to your experience. This was caught when we were all sat here watching you in Mr Boots’ room, so no-one was around to cause this to happen.”

He pressed play, for the first few seconds nothing happened but then the REM pod started going off with a few inconsistent low bleeps before going quiet again. A low humming noise floated through before a few more bleeps registered on the pod. Everything went quiet for what seemed like hours until the pod when absolutely nuts.

“What the hell?” Zak asked.

“It continues like that for a good two minutes before it all ceases.” Nick replied.

“…so that’s all we got then?”

“Yep, nothing ground-breaking but it wasn’t a complete washout either.”

No-one said anything else on the matter, Ringo started pestering to be taken on a walk so Billy and Aaron left with the restless canine whilst Zak re-examined my shoulders with Nick sighing and tutting along with Jay.

I took a sharp intake of breath as Zak moved my shoulder around, he looked at me with those wide eyes that made my heart skip a beat, those eyes that showed he cared so much for me, that he wishes he could take my pain away, that he would do anything to protect me.

“Sorry…” he whispered as I winced again whilst he put a light pressure on one of the bruises. 

“It’s okay…” I exhaled as Nick simply raised an eyebrow. “I mean, they won’t be this tender for long.”

Zak nodded as he planted a kiss to my temple, I ignored the pain in my shoulders as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to his level from where I had been sat on one of the beds. I felt his arms close gently around me as we just stood there in the embrace. It would be one of the last before he left me to return to Vegas. Nick seemed understanding and quietly slipped out of the room, leaving us alone in silence just hugging each other.

“I…I don’t want you to go…” I murmured. “I want you to stay here with me…”

“I know sweetheart…” he replied. “I don’t want to leave either but we both know that I gotta head back…and you have to start college so you can get into a good university…you can’t do that in Vegas.”

“I-I could transfer.” I mumbled, knowing that it would never work and my parents would kill me.

Zak shook his head and laughed lightly. “Now now Luna, you and I both know that you need to study here in England…”

“I don’t want to leave your side though!” I exclaimed.

He pulled my lips to meet his, I lost my thoughts as he held me close to him, time passed and a knock at the door pulled us apart. Nick walked back in slowly, rolling his eyes at us but saying nothing, soon Billy and Aaron returned with Ringo and the decision was made to hit the road to take me home.

**~***~**

 

The journey back to Bristol was fun, even if the thought that Zak was leaving hung over me like a dark cloud of depression, it was filled with jokes about this and that, bad karaoke sessions  and the occasional swearing at the bad drivers on the road.  
There was a moment however when everyone was silent for a while with only the radio droning on in the background as we sat in stationary traffic; Zak had me sat on his lap with Nick sighing as my legs lay across his, Ringo made himself useful by licking Nick’s face whenever the mischievous man would remark about how I was using him as a footrest. Zak kept a continuous hold on me as if I would float away if he let go of me, it was quite sweet really but also deepened the feeling of sadness welling up inside of me..

“I love you…” Zak whispered as he planted a kiss on my neck in the silent van.

“I love you too Zak...” I replied, leaning into his touch. “Even if you’re going to be in a different time zone.”

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder…”

“But…my heart is already fond of you.”

He laughed lightly before burying his face in my hair, Nick sighed heavily and nudged me, I stuck out my tongue in retaliation. After a few more exchanges similar to this Zak got wise to us and ran his fingers up my sides, causing me to squeal in protest at the tickling sensation. Nick cracked up in laughter, as did Zak.

“Now Children…I don’t want to know what you’re doing but please stop it...” Billy remarked from the driver’s seat.

“Yes _dad_.” Zak mockingly replied as he tickled me again.

“Zak!” I cried, almost kicking Nick in the face as my knees flew up to my chest in some act of defence against Zak’s ticklish fingertips.

“Oi quit it Zak, save making her scream for the bedroom dude.” Nick remarked.

“Nick!” I yelled, he devilishly smirked in reply and shrugged his shoulders.

“Kids!” Billy sighed. “We’re in heavy traffic in case you hadn’t noticed and my blood pressure is about to hit the roof so quit tormenting each other and shut up!”

We simmered down for a while until Zak’s fingers stated finding their way back to my sides, the entire fiasco started again until Billy nearly lost it, we were all thankful that Aaron was able to calm him down.

As we finally pulled off the motorway and into the city centre of Bristol it struck me as odd that no-one had said anything since we got yelled at by Billy, even the horrendous traffic jams weren’t stirring a word out of any of them. Zak still kept hold of me, planting light kisses on my neck and cheek randomly as we got further into the city.

We pulled up at a hotel just down the road from where I’d be attending college for two years, a brief moment of sadness hit me as I realised this was actually their last night in England but it quickly passed as Zak took me by the hand and led me into the lobby of the building.

“Hey cheer up sweetheart.” He said as he wrapped an arm around my waist. “Let’s make this a night to remember.”

Several unclean thoughts ran through my head before I noticed that the way he was looking at me was not out of lust but out of pure love. I nodded and leaned into his hold as Nick checked us all in to our rooms, Billy and Aaron in one, Nick taking Ringo in another and finally Zak and I alone for one final night.

A short while later we were sat in one of the hotels many restaurants pouring over the menu of Italian food available for consumption. Eventually everyone decided on various pasta dishes; the classic sharing of spaghetti took place with Zak and I, much to the others’ amusement, many cliché romance jokes were made including a suggestion that Zak should feed me pasta. Any other time I would have swatted the remarks away and told the guys to stop being so childish but tonight it was a different story, tonight was to be one to remember just as Zak said. We finished our food a while later and went back to our rooms, the second the door shut behind us I felt myself pushed up against the smooth wood panelling, Zak’s body pressed against mine, his eyes strangely calm and peaceful.

“You okay?” he asked, caressing my cheek.

“Yeah...you?” I replied.

He nodded and swiped his thumb over my lips, pulling them apart slightly as his other hand stroked my back gently, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his lips onto mine. It felt so right to be there with him in that moment, just the two of us without a care in the world. He pulled away and gestured to the bed with a raised eyebrow, I simply nodded and sat down in the middle of it, Zak slowly crawled towards me and lightly pushed me so I was lying down with him bearing over me.

“I’m going to miss you so much...” he whispered as he held himself over me. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to wait before I kidnap you or something...”

I giggled slightly as I brought one of my hands up to his face, he hadn’t shaved for a few days again. “I don’t know if kidnapping me is a good idea...but I appreciate the gesture.”

He responded by kissing me; lightly at first, steadily adding pressure and forcing my mouth open. I ran my hands through his hair and lightly tugged on the black strands as he got slightly rougher with me; teasingly biting my lip and sucking on my tongue. He eventually left my lips and started kissing my neck in the same manner, probably leaving me with several lovebites to explain to people. I sighed and giggled as his light stubble tickled my collarbone which was quickly cut short when he started on another hickey.

“Enjoying yourself?” he whispered, returning to eye level with me, there was a glittering in his eyes what made the butterflies in my stomach flutter like crazy. I nodded in reply, he laughed and nuzzled my neck, careful not to touch the tender skin on my shoulders as he did so. “You’re beautiful.” He murmured, settling down beside me but keeping his eyes locked on mine.

I felt myself blush heavily, I smiled and splayed my fingers on his chest, he kissed my forehead and got off the bed abruptly.

“I’m taking a shower, I’ll be about ten minutes probably…can you keep yourself amused whilst I’m gone?”

I laughed “Yeah, but I’ll be timing you.”

He winked and disappeared into the bathroom, I sighed and rubbed my eyes, it wasn’t long now until it would be all over…

“ _You have a habit of always looking at the negative things don’t you?_ ” Jay remarked.

“I’m a pessimist, deal with it.” I replied. “And stop reading my thoughts you creeper.”

“ _Hey, I’m just here you know, I have to read your thoughts in order to stop that thing hurting you._ ”

“Fine.” I sighed again, I was tired but I was battling the fatigue so I could have as much time as possible with Zak. I let my eyes slip shut momentarily, it only felt like seconds that I was in darkness but after a while I felt a hand stroking my head which made me open my eyes again.

“Tired?” Zak whispered as he kissed my forehead. I nodded. He shifted around on the bed so he was behind me and pulled me up into his hold, his arms wrapped around my torso as he planted a light kiss on my neck. “Go to sleep then.”

I laughed lightly before twisting around to face him. “But…I don’t want to sleep…” I murmured.

“Aw…well you seemed to be quite happy sleeping when I came out of the bathroom.” He replied, nuzzling my neck, I could feel the dampness in his hair and on his skin.

“But I’m happier now that you’re here.” I whispered, ignoring the sound of Jay gagging.

We sat there in silence for a while, embracing the company of the other, I could feel his pulse as he held me close to him, I began to lapse into sleep but woke myself up several times only to eventually give in when Zak slowly kissed my neck, his lips ghosting over my shoulders.

“Sleep tight sweetheart.” He whispered as I settled against him. “I love you.”


	37. Goodbye

**Goodbye**

Morning came too quickly. I blinked in the sunlight streaming through the curtains, Zak had a relaxed hold on me as he continued sleeping. Reality’s cruel sting then hit me; this was the last time I’d wake up next to him.

“ _Calm down._ ” Jay whispered. “ _They still have hours before they have to be at the airport._ ”

I nodded and curled into Zak’s chest, kissing him lightly. He sighed and tightened his hold on me, muttering into my neck. I wanted to stay like that forever but a knock at the door ruined that plan, I detached myself from Zak and answered the door.

“Alright?” Nick asked as I leaned against the doorframe.

I looked at him for a few seconds, debating whether to tell him that I was having a breakdown because I didn’t want them to leave or to just smile and nod. “I…guess so.” I replied quietly.

“Hey I know it’ll be hard for you today, but look on the bright side; he’s so head over heels in love with you that he won’t want to wait long to meet up again.” Nick said.

I nodded, sighing heavily.

“Do you want a hug?” he asked after the first few tears started forming in my eyes. I nodded again, he held me as I let the tears silently fall. He rubbed my back comfortingly but said nothing, he didn’t need to, I knew that he understood why I was upset so there was no need to say anything.

“Nick..” I uttered after a few minutes. “When’s your flight out?”

“Four this afternoon.” He replied. “So we’ll have to get there for half one probably…so you have three and a half hours…you might wanna wake him up so you can make it memorable.”

I nodded and pulled away from him, I smiled and hastily wiped away the tears, he smiled back at me and closed the door behind him as he left. I turned back my sleeping boyfriend, he had rolled onto his back, leaving his chest exposed, and was snoring lightly. He stirred slightly when I started leaving light kisses from his stomach all the way up to his lips, eventually waking when I rested my forehead against his.

“…Luna…” he breathed. “…today is-”

I cut him off by kissing him fully, parting his lips and sighing into his mouth. He ran his fingers through my hair and settled his hand on the back of my neck as he gradually woke up, his eyes portrayed his tiredness but also had a glimmer of a strangely attractive wildness which soon turned into more than a glimmer. After a few moments he quickly flipped us over so I the one lying down, he started lightly grazing the skin on my collarbone with his teeth, his warm breath tickling me.

He eventually stopped and kissed my lips, locking eyes with me. “…well…if only I could wake up to that every morning.” He whispered. I hummed in agreement, hugging him tightly. “I need to properly pack really…”

“No.” I simply remarked. “I’m not letting you go Zachary.”

He laughed and ran his fingers up my side, causing me to squeal and release him, I returned the favour by grabbing one of the pillows and throwing it at him, we spent a while rolling around on the bed having some sort of pillow-fight. Once we both got too tired to continue we curled up on the bed again, my fingers entwining with his as he kissed my temple and whispered in my ear “I’m going to miss you so much you have no idea…”

I battled the urge to cry. “I have some idea…I’m going to feel so lonely without you Zak.”

“I’ll call you everyday sweetheart, I promise.”

It was becoming increasingly hard to not let myself cry, it’s not that I didn’t want him to see me cry but I just didn’t want these last few hours to be tainted with tears. I nodded and buried my face in his shoulder.

“Hey come on …” he said, guiding my face to his, he gently held me a few centimetres from him. “Listen, it’ll be okay, we’ll be together again before you know it. I love you Luna and nothing can change that, nothing okay? So we’ll be nine hours apart, I’ll gladly stay up until three am if it means I can talk to you.”

I nodded, unable to form a sentence without the risk of bursting into hysterical sobbing. We spent what seemed like hours just sat with each other, Nick texted Zak to inquire about the arrangements for their check-in which unfortunately reminded Zak that he still had to sort his luggage out. I watched him rearranging his stuff, glancing at the time on my phone made me realise they had an hour until they had to be at the airport, Zak stood up and looked at me, he looked as if he was about to start crying himself.

“…well…I guess we better collect the others and make our way to the airport…” he sighed, holding out a hand for me. I took it and he brought me into a tight hug, I flatly ignored the pain in my shoulders as we stood there slightly swaying. I really didn’t want him to go.

**~***~**

Airport coffee is some of the best coffee I’ve ever had, we sat in Starbucks waiting for the final minutes of check-in to close Aaron had decided that getting everyone coffee would be a good idea. For the most part it was, until Ringo tried to steal it several times and nearly knocked Billy off his chair. We all erupted in laughter, Ringo had certainly come out of his shell since the guys arrived, I wasn’t sure how my parents were going to take this, then again they didn’t really know about all of this and I was determined to keep it that way for as long as possible.

“So, do you think the Travel Channel are gonna like these investigations?” Nick asked.

“They better, we’ve caught so much evidence in terms of injuries for them _not_ to.” I sighed.

“And in general.” Billy added. “It’s not all about you Luna.” He laughed.

“Well considering I’m the new bait I think it should be.” I declared, leaning on Zak’s shoulder.

The conversation topic changed, Zak remained silent, stroking my wrist with his thumb as we sat there holding hands. After a while the familiar sound of the announcement for the flight to clear security rang through the area, the guys collected their stuff and started walking towards the metal gates, we stopped just short of the queue to say the final goodbyes;

“Well, take care of that energetic dog Luna, he sure is a handful.” Aaron sighed and hugged me tightly.

“Yeah, he sure is.” I replied, forcing my voice to sound light and happy.

“Take care Luna.” Billy said, also hugging me tightly.

“Thanks Billy, I will.”

Nick actually picked me up in a hug and swung me around. “Don’t do anything we wouldn’t approve of, or you’ll have all of us on your tail” he remarked as he set me down.

I laughed and jokingly hit him on the back of the head. “Now what would cause you to think I’d be doing such things Nicholas?”

He shrugged, we then looked to Zak who seemed a little torn to say the least. Billy and Aaron decided to go ahead through security and left Nick with us, biding me a final farewell with a wave.

“…Luna…” Zak whimpered, he had tears in his eyes. “I…I…” he was stuttering badly, breathing heavily and only able to actually look at me.

“Shh…it’s okay Zak.” I said, wrapping my arms around him, letting tears form at the edges of my own eyes. “I-It’s going to be okay.”

“I love you.” He murmured.

“I love you too Zak.” I replied, kissing his shaking lips. “Remember that when your demons next try to torture you… I. Love. You.”

He nodded and kissed me, I heard Nick sniff loudly from behind me. The airport voice made another call for the flight so I reluctantly released Zak from my hold, I wiped away the tears he had shed and smiled.

“Get your ass on that plane Zachary, there’s evidence for you to analyse back in Vegas.” I remarked. “Nick, make sure he gets on the damn plane please.”

“Yes ma’am.” Nick sniggered, continuing on with the joke. “Come on dude, the lady told us to go.”

Zak lightly laughed and hugged me again before Nick pulled him towards the gate. I waved to them before Ringo nuzzled my hand, I looked down at him, his eyes understanding my heartache.

“Come on then boy.” I declared, tugging his leash. I took out my phone and punched Kate’s number in.

“Fancy meeting up for the mother-of-all catch-ups?” I asked her when she picked up.

“Ghost boy gone then?”

“Yeah....”

“I’ll meet you in the centre in half an hour.”

 

**~On the plane – Zak’s P.O.V~**

 

I missed her already. We were barely half an hour into the flight and I missed her like crazy. So this was what the next few months would feel like…

“Cheer up Zak.” Nick said, nudging me out of my daydream. “I bet Travel Channel will demand we bring her back for next season once they’ve seen this load of footage.”

“I don’t want the only reason for seeing her being centred around the show dude…I love her…I want to spend endless days with her just hanging out and not worrying about an investigation schedule.”

He nodded.

“And…I’m scared for her, she’s got that thing attached to her still…”

“She has Jay, it’ll be fine for now.”

“…I guess so…” I sighed, staring out the window at the white blanket of clouds beneath the plane, I hoped that Jay would be enough to stop her getting attacked but part of me doubted that this would be the case, my feelings towards her were stronger than ones I had experienced with any other girl; maybe those alone would be enough to stop my own demons from hurting me…or would they make them worse? 


	38. Epilogue

**A white Christmas**

“ _Are you excited to see him again?_ ” Jay asked as we sat on the plane heading to the states. It was a dumb question, of course I was excited to see Zak, and it was the winter holidays, I might actually get a white Christmas whilst out here.

I nodded, flipping through the on-flight entertainment directory to find out how long we had left to go. It wasn’t easy to convince my parents to let me go, after all I was the only daughter left living at home now so with me gone they’d be having a lonesome holiday, not that I cared that much – Zak was more important to me now, although I would miss Ringo whilst I was away.

“ _He can’t wait to see you. I can feel it, his energy is strong._ ”

I nodded again, registering that we had a little over 30 minutes until our landing in Colorado. Zak had decided that we were staying in a little cabin over Christmas, no investigations, no analysis of evidence, nothing to do with the show, just me and him…and Jay.

The seatbelt sign lit up and the air-hostess’ started collecting the last bits of rubbish and preparing for landing, I glanced out the window at the clouds beneath us which held the snow I had been promised.

**~***~**

It wasn’t hard to find Zak, he’s quite easy to spot, especially when he saw me and his face lit up with that dazzling smile I love. He wasted no time when I got to him, he swept me up in his arms and spun me around, kissing me and holding onto me for dear life.

“Hello to you too.” I remarked when he set me down on the floor.

“God I missed you, and it’s only been three months.” He replied, picking up my bag and taking my hand. “I trust Jay has kept you safe.”

“Yes he has.” I squeezed his hand as we exited the airport into the freezing cold air and Zak led me to a small pickup truck.

“I would’ve bought my pride and joy of a car but I don’t think she reacts well to the amount of snow we’ll be encountering, so I borrowed this from a friend.” He explained as we got in, it was warm inside the truck but I still curled up next to Zak, which was hard in itself with a seatbelt threatening to decapitate me should we crash but I didn’t care. He wrapped an arm around me and quickly kissed my forehead before focusing on the icy road ahead.

The trip to the cabin took us through a small town where we stopped to pick up some supplies for the week ahead and extra in case we got snowed in, (which was a possibility apparently) whilst Zak was busy talking about firewood and other such practical things with a store attendant I took the opportunity to talk to Jay.

“So, this is going to be fun.” I sighed, stepping out of the store into the winter air, snow was quietly falling around on the town, everywhere I looked I saw Christmas lights and décor hung up, glittering in the dying daylight.

“ _Should be fairly low-risk too. I’ll keep an eye out for an unsavoury spirits wanting to crash the party though._ ” He replied.

“Thanks but don’t forget to take a break too Jay, you deserve it after all the shit I’ve pulled you through.”

He laughed, I felt a hand on my shoulder as the door to the store swung shut. “Alright then?” Zak asked.

“Yup.” I replied with a smile.

“Just a word of warning, phone signal will be a bitch to get hold of when we’re there.” He said as we walked back to the truck. “And you can forget wi-fi too.”

“Aw man!” I sighed jokingly. “I _live_ on the internet Zak!”

“Hey am I not good enough for you now?” he exclaimed, cupping my face in his hand once we were in the truck.

“Well…you’ll have to be won’t you?” I smugly stated.

He chuckled and started the engine up, we drove out of town and along a road lined with huge snowbanks, I’d never seen anything like it. The snow was falling faster and heavier now but the truck’s windshield wipers were making short work of the specks, the tires rolling over the snow with a crunch and nothing more. After a while we pulled up to a small log cabin surrounded by a small clump of trees, Zak gutted the engine and stepped out into what was now a blizzard in my books but clearly next to nothing in his.

“Come on sweetheart, you’re pretty little English body won’t be able to survive this weather.” He called as he unloaded the back of the truck whilst I just stood in the snow.

“What was that about my pretty body?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Haha I’m not repeating myself. Let’s get inside though, it’s freezing.” He replied, winking as he passed me my bag.

The inside of the cabin was a little larger than I expected, the kitchen was cozy and had a quaint feel to it, the lounge and dining space all had wooden furniture that reminded me of the typical mountain retreat cabins, a door was to my left which probably led to the bedroom and the bathroom beyond that. The head of an elk hung above a stone fireplace, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it but it was quickly forgotten when Zak closed the heavy oak door behind him.

“Home sweet home for the next week, do you like it?” he asked as he started seeing to the fireplace, a small flame was born from a match which quickly caught the dry logs already in the grate – illuminating the room with a low orange glow.

“I love it.” I said, taking off my snow covered boots and outer clothing, settling down on the couch and watching him go to put the food away. “It’s wonderful Zak.”

“I spent three weeks looking for the perfect place, and we still gotta put the decorations up yet…but that can wait.” He finished organising the food and returned to join me on the couch. “We have stuff to catch-up on.”

“Indeed we do Zak…indeed we do…” I replied.

He pressed his lips to mine, holding my face in place as he parted my lips, I let him roam my mouth as I ran my hands over his chest. We shifted on the couch so I lay underneath him, his body lightly pressing against mine, he moaned slightly into my mouth as he got friskier, his hand roaming from my face down to my chest.

“…Z-Zak…” I exhaled as he broke away from my lips and started kissing my neck. “We have all week Zak…”

“I know…but I just…I missed you like crazy.” He whispered, “But if you’re uncomfortable…”

“N-No…” I quickly replied, pulling his lips back to mine. “But…let’s just take it a little slower okay? I’m kinda tired after my flight…”

He nodded and kissed my cheek. “Sure, anything you want, this is your holiday as much as mine.” His eyes still sparkling.

I smiled. “I want to put up the decorations you mentioned.”

He smiled and scrambled off the sofa and into the other room, I exhaled heavily and tried to calm my rapidly beating heart, this was the first time Zak had actively shown an interest in my body, I didn’t mind it – quite the opposite actually – but it was a shock to my system.

“ _I was enjoying that…_ ” Jay sulked.

“Stop being a pervert.” I replied, fanning myself with my hands to try and get rid of my flustered look.

“ _I just find it amusing okay?_ ”

“Fine fine, it’s okay Jay.”

Zak arrived back in the room with three boxes and obtained a small potted tree from the other room, he seemed greatly pleased with his efforts, I couldn’t help but laugh. We spent a good hour attacking each other with tinsel and ornaments, Zak muttering at the tangled wires of the tree lights, and of course trading kisses as we decorated the tree, after we finished he decided that the fireplace looked a little empty so he draped the leftover tinsel over the mantel and around the elk’s neck.

“It’s a very fashionable elk.” He stated when he was happy with the gold neck accessory on the animal. I laughed, he joined in and pulled out his phone, “I gotta send this one to the guys whenever we get signal.”

My stomach growled slightly, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since I left home as I detested airline food. Zak looked at me and chuckled slightly before disappearing into the kitchen, I followed him – curious as to what he was up to – and found him rummaging around in the cupboards. After a while he produced a bowl of steaming soup to me with a heart-warming smile.

“It’s my infamous chicken soup. Only I know the recipe.” He proudly said.

I took the bowl from him and held it to my face, it smelled nice, I smiled and returned to the couch with Zak following. I was about to take a sip from the bowl when he stopped me and brought his face close to mine, he blew on the steaming liquid to cool it slightly before urging me to drink it. It tasted so good, it warmed my entire body from head to toe, I finished it in no time with Zak watching me the whole time in silence.

“mmm…so good.” I sighed as I set the bowl down on the floor by the couch and curled into his hold. “You’re amazing Zak.”

“Not as amazing as you are.” He murmured, stroking my hair, I blushed, there was no point trying to hide it, I didn’t care anyway. I pressed my lips to his neck and let my eyes slip shut, I had no idea what time it was anymore but I didn’t care – all that mattered was I was with Zak and nothing could separate us now.

I heard him humming as he got himself comfortable, I could feel the heat from the fire on one side of me and the softness of his clothing on the rest of me, his steady pulse too as I lay on top of him. I don’t know how long we were there for but I opened my eyes to find him asleep and the fire dying out, I was too comfy to move though to replenish the wood stock.

“Pst, Jay.” I whispered.

“ _You want me to sort out the fire right?_ ” his slightly bored tone sighed.

“Please?”

“ _Sure thing, it’ll give me something to do other than watch the two of you sleep._ ”

I watched as the dying embers briefly flared for no visual reason, then a small log slowly slide along the slate in front of the fireplace, I blinked and it suddenly was being engulfed by the flames, the same happened with another log before Jay sighed heavily.

“ _The things I do for you..._ ”

“You’re getting good at moving objects around.” I whispered.

“ _Thanks, I’ve been practicing with the clothes you leave lying around the house._ ” He remarked. “ _I’m tired though, mind if I rest up?_ ”

“Not at all Jay, as I said, you deserve it.”

**~***~**  
 **(Zak’s P.O.V)**

I woke up, I hadn’t even realised I had fallen asleep. It was dark in the room, the fire was dying out, Luna was fast asleep on me…literally led on me…her small and fragile body pressed against mine, I swallowed. She looked angelic as she slept soundly, murmuring words that I couldn’t make out, her hand splayed on my chest which would tense every now and then, even twisting her entire body to get more comfortable.

I ran a hand down her back, letting it settle at the base of her spine, her shirt was riding up slightly and I could feel her delicate skin radiating heat, my fingers itched to move under the fabric and travel up her back but my conscience thought otherwise.

She made a small whimper which sounded adorable, my thumb slipped just under her shirt, it was tempting to go further but I didn’t want to take advantage of her whilst she was sleeping. That problem was quickly solved however as her eyes fluttered open and she eased herself off of my chest.

“…what time is it?” she mumbled, rubbing one of her eyes, looking adorable whilst doing so.

“I dunno. I’m guessing it’s around nine but don’t hold me to that.” I replied. “Do you wanna go to bed? I imagine it’s comfier than my chest.”

She raised an eyebrow as if to question my assumption but nodded, taking my hand in hers as she got off the couch, pulling me with her. As I stood up she wrapped her arms around me and kissed my neck, I held her close and breathed in her scent. Eventually we remembered that we were meant to be going to bed so I picked her up and carried her into the small bedroom, she was barely on the bed for two minutes before she was practically asleep again. I nudged her awake for long enough that she stripped off a layer of clothing and just fell asleep wearing leggings and a tank top, I rolled my eyes and chuckled slightly as I slipped under the thick duvet and hugged her close to me, I could definitely get used to nights like this…

**(Three days later)**  
 **(Luna’s P.O.V)**

It was Christmas eve finally, Zak and I had spent the past three days constantly in each other’s company, the snow had fallen thick and fast around the cabin so we spent a great deal of time outside until I started shivering violently and Zak demanded that I go inside and warm up. I sat in front of the fire, the heat washing over me as the flames danced around in the half lit room, Zak came and joined me on the wooden floor, wrapping an arm around me.

“This is perfect.” He murmured. “Just you and me alone for the holidays.”

“It is…it’s the best one I’ve had, and not just because of the snow.” I replied quietly

“I can’t wait to give you your present.”

“Present?” I asked, I hadn’t really expected him to actually get me something, I had gotten him a small gift but nothing special really.

“Yeah, I think you’ll love it.” He smiled and kissed my neck. “Or at least I hope you like it.”

I nodded and curled into his hold, my eyes resting on the flames licking at the burning logs, I was beginning to feel hungry again so I asked him for more soup, he rolled his eyes at me before heading to the kitchen. I snuck into the bedroom and rummaged through my suitcase to find the small box which contained the gift I had gotten him, I hadn’t wrapped it up or anything so it was in the giftbox the store had provided. I flipped the lid open; a silver chain sat in the padded box, two dog tags attached to it; one engraved with my name, a moon and a star, the other with the date we entered our relationship – 2nd August 2012. It hadn’t cost that much thankfully, it would’ve been a little awkward to explain to my parents if I had to borrow money for it. The smell of chicken drifted through the open door to me so I snapped the case shut and reburied it in my case before following my nose to the kitchen where Zak was serving out two bowlfuls of soup with a look of bliss on his face.

“I could get used to this.” He said as he handed the bowl and a spoon to me. “You and me…”

I nodded and breathed in the wondrous scent as I went back to the welcoming fire with my acquired soup, Zak following me all the way. We sat and ate the warming food quietly with the fire crackling in front of us, my body felt warm and relaxed, as did my mind. Jay had been quiet for the past few days, occasionally talking to us but mainly just residing around the little cabin, relaxed and untroubled.

Zak finished his soup and put the bowl on the slate in front of the fireplace, I followed suit, he then looked at me with a heated look. I simply raised an eyebrow at him. He smirked as he leaned in and kissed me heavily on the lips, pushing me to lie on the floor as he slowly prised my lips apart and slide his tongue into my mouth. I moaned as his hand slipped under my shirt and his fingers tickled my sides on their way up to my chest.

“Just let me know if it gets too much…” he gasped as he pulled away from my lips, his fingers stroking the material of my bra. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Shut up and kiss me Zak.” I sighed as I wrapped my legs around him. “You talk too much I swear.”

He laughed slightly, kissing me as he tugged at the material of my bra, swiping his thumb over the sensitive skin. I let out an involuntary gasp which seemed to cause his eyes to light up in a predatory way, in response I pulled his body down, feeling his waist pressed against mine as he continued teasing my chest. His free hand started unbuttoning my shirt slowly whilst he gently pressed his waist closer to mine than I thought was possible.

The fire hissed and popped as it burned through the wood, neither of us reacted though, Zak moaned into my lips as he got the final button undone and my shirt slipped open, my underwear pulled aside and replaced by Zak’s smooth fingers lightly stroking along the small stretch lines that lined my chest.

“…shall we continue this in bed?” he hummed, kissing the nape of my neck. “It’ll be more comfortable.”

I had too many sensations rushing through me to reply intelligently so I just nodded. He picked me up bridal style and carried me through to the bedroom, gently putting me down on the bed, resuming the position he was in before.

“I’m going to make this the best night of your life…and the most memorable…” he whispered. “If you’ll let me…”

“I wouldn’t want anything less…” I replied quietly.

**~***~**

When I awoke the next morning I was a little cold and couldn’t quite figure out why, that was until I pulled the covers tighter around me and realised that I was lacking in the clothing department, that and my body seemed unusually tight and achy…

“…what…” I uttered as I put a hand out to find Zak only to be greeted with the empty side of the bed.

“ _…you two really did it._ ” Jay informed me as if it was nothing.

“We did what now?” I asked quickly.

“ _…don’t make me spell it out…_ ”

I didn’t need him to spell it out, I just wanted clarity. I rubbed my eyes and left them covering my face with one thought running around in my mind; _you finally did it with him…_. I wasn’t angry, upset or confused, quite the opposite actually, I was partly fearful for what he thought of me now, but those worries were forgotten when I heard the door open and felt him sit back on the bed.

“Are you okay?” he asked, failing to keep the worry out of his voice.

“Yeah, fine, last night…we…” I muttered.

“…we…” Zak repeated slowly. “Are you regretting it?”

“God no, I loved it.” I said, taking my hands away from my face and looking at him, his eyes were filled with understanding and compassion. “My thoughts are just catching up with me that’s all…I…I don’t regret one bit of it Zak.”

He smiled and kissed me slowly and gently. “Well, it’s Christmas morning sweetheart…get dressed and come into the lounge.” He said “I got something for you.”

I nodded and hastily got dressed once he left, my legs and waist complaining at the movement and my thoughts spinning around my head. I pulled out the small giftbox from amongst my clothes in my case and entered the lounge. The smell of hot chocolate wafted from the kitchen and when I went to investigate, the box hidden underneath one of the pillows on the couch, I found Zak with two mugs of steaming liquid with marshmallows and whipped cream topping them.

“I didn’t know if you liked eggnog.” He simply said as he handed one to me. “So I played it safe with cocoa.”

I giggled and took a sip of the drink, cream and marshmallow smearing over my nose so that Zak laughed, nearly snorting his own drink out of his nose. After he had wiped the sticky sweet sugar off of me he ushered me to sit on the couch, he produced a box wrapped in glittery red paper and tied with a gold ribbon.

“That’s from Aaron by the way.” He said as I looked at him quizzically. Aaron had sent be a ‘big steppin’ hoodie that was a little bit too big for me meaning I’d grow into it in the next year or so. It came with a letter which said;  
“ ** _Happy holidays Luna! Hope you haven’t been driven insane up in the cabin with Zak, this hoodie should keep you warm during the bad weather, hope you have a great time with Zak and give Ringo a hug for me when you get home. – Aaron_** ”

I giggled and brushed the hoodie against my face, the smooth fabric was thick so it probably would cope with the unpredictable English weather back home. Zak passed me another box, a lot smaller than Aaron’s gift, wrapped in green metallic paper with a red stick-on bow.

I read the label; “ ** _To the girl who’s become like a little sister and has brought much happiness to one of my closest friends; Merry Christmas Luna, I hope you like this small token of my brotherly love for you – Billy._** ”

Inside the box was a gold necklace with a diamante studded heart pendant. Zak took it from me and unhooked the little clasp and proceeded to put it on me. “You like it?” he asked.

“Yeah…it’s beautiful.” I sighed.

He kissed my cheek and gave me another box wrapped in green paper. “ ** _Happy holidays Luna, I didn’t know what to get you so I asked my wife and she came back with this so I hope you like it, I’m sure Zak is spoiling you rotten whilst you’re up there in the snow, just don’t forget to return the favour... – Nick_** ”

I rolled my eyes at the last comment as I opened the box to reveal a light blue halter-neck dress with a butterfly made out of purple rhinestones stitched onto it. I saw Zak swallow as he watched me put it against my body, trying to work out where it would end (which seemed to be just above the knee).

“Wow…Nick’s wife found a beauty.” I exhaled as I carefully folded it up and put it back into the box.

“Yeah…anyway, I got one more for you to open.” He said, pulling out a small box wrapped in gold paper. “It’s not much but…I think you’ll like it.”

I nodded, carefully tearing the paper off and opened the box, a small silver chain with the plated name ‘Zak’ hanging from it sat in the quilted interior, a simple ring with a Celtic pattern sat in the same box. I eased the ring out of the holder and put it on my middle finger as it was the biggest, it fit almost perfectly. Next I put on the necklace, it clinked against the pendant I was already wearing.

“Well?” Zak breathed quietly.

I replied by wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him. “I love it. Thank-you Zak. I love you.”

He nuzzled my neck and sighed. “Good. I spent ages trying to figure out what to get you…I was so nervous that you wouldn’t like it.”

“I love it Zak. Um…I have something for you too.” I replied, reaching behind the pillow on the couch for the box, I gave it to him and his eyes lit up with curiosity as he opened it. His jaw dropped slightly when he saw the gift.

“Y-you got this for me?” he asked. I nodded. He immediately put it on and pulled me close to him. “I don’t know what to say sweetheart…”

I buried my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent, and laughed. “Don’t say anything then.” I remarked quietly, briefly pulling back. “Just enjoy this moment Zak.”

He nodded and wrapped his arms around me, kissing my head as he leaned against the couch and stretched his legs out towards the crackling fire. My head rested against his chest whilst we sat there in the firelight, I heard him sigh lightly as he smoothed my arms.

“Luna...” he whispered, gently turning to face me.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“This has been the best Christmas I’ve ever had...because I’ve spent it with you...and I wouldn’t change it for the world...” he murmured.

“Same, this has been my best Christmas and I want every Christmas to be this way…” I replied quietly. “Promise me that next Christmas will be just as good?”

“I promise sweetheart.” He whispered. “I promise that it will be just as good if not better.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “But let’s just enjoy the rest of this year’s festivities…do you want more cocoa?”

I nodded and let him get up to prepare our drinks, I turned my new ring over in my fingers, the firelight reflecting off the silver. My heart fluttered slightly as I thought about another year of being with Zak, another year of his smile brightening up my life, I had no doubt that it would be another year of unforgettable memories. Meeting Zak was certainly the highlight of it all, and everything between then and now had been a rollercoaster ride that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

“Luna I have more sticky white stuff for you to swallow!” Zak hollered from the kitchen. I felt my face flush red at his comment before bursting into laughter.

“I’m not kidding, we have a cream situation that only you can save us from!” he continued, I could hear the laughter in his voice. “Seriously, help me.”

I shook my head and got up to make my way to my distressed other-half, this was certainly going to be a memorable Christmas for many, many reasons….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And on that note; the sequel is complete!  
> 


End file.
